MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS 
ATLANTA - SAN FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN & CO., Limited 

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THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. 

TORONTO 



MODERN EUROPEAN 
CIVILIZATION 



A TEXTBOOK 

FOR 

SECONDARY SCHOOLS 



BY 

ROSCOE LEWIS ASHLEY 

AUTHOR OF 

"EARLY EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 1 ' 

'AMERICAN HISTORY, 1 * "THE NEW CIVICS 1 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

1918 

All rights reserved 



Copyright, 1918, 
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 



MAR 2.1 1918 

©X3M494170 



r 



PREFACE 

The following chapters include the first half of a text- 
book on the history of " Modern European Civilization" 
during the last three centuries. The volume is intended 
for the second year of the new two year course in Euro- 
pean history. In accordance with the preferences ex- 
pressed by a majority of high school teachers who were 
consulted, the second year's work begins with the conflict 
between the Stuart kings of England and Parliament in 
the early sixteenth century. This division, first proposed 
in connection with the " Early European Civilization," 
seems now to have been accepted almost universally 
by other textbook writers and by a majority of those 
schools which formerly favored some other division be- 
tween the first and second year's work. 

In common with " Early European Civilization" this 
book puts stress upon great movements rather than upon 
minor historical changes, however interesting the latter 
may be. It aims to give a larger amount of material 
on social and economic conditions and on social and 
economic changes than any similar textbook. Since the 
main purpose of both books is to explain the present 
through a study of the past, it treats in considerable 
detail those changes which are most closely associated 
with the most important institutions in Europe at the 
present time. Because a student of European history 
who has already devoted a year to the study of early 
European history is capable of doing more advanced 
work than was possible in his first year, this book has 
been made more difficult. Because it does not cover 



VI PREFACE 

the great periods of time included within the first volume 
of the series, it is possible to treat many topics in a much 
more complete way than was either possible or desirable 
in "Early European Civilization." Those characteristics 
of style and treatment, however, which distinguished 
" Early European Civilization" have been retained, 
being modified only so far as the character of the subject, 
the briefer period of time covered, and the greater matu- 
rity of the student have made possible. The remaining 
chapters of the book will be published the latter part of 
this year in time for use the second semester of the school 
year, 1918-9. 

The author wishes to thank those who have aided him 
in any way in the preparation of this book. At this time 
he will express his indebtedness only to his colleague, 
Miss Leonora Schopbach of the Pasadena High School, 
who has given him help continually, and to Professor 
Frederic A. Ogg of the University of Wisconsin, who has 
read the manuscript of the volume and made many valu- 
able suggestions. 

Pasadena, Cal. 
Jan. 1918. 



CONTENTS 

(BY CHAPTERS AND TOPICS) 
I. Europe in the Early Seventeenth Century 



SECTION 



PAGE 



1. Political Europe 1 

6. Lords and Peasants ......... 5 

10. Business and the Towns ........ 9 

18. Religious and Social Conditions 17 

PART I 

THE AGE OF ABSOLUTISM (1603-1789) 

II. England (1603-1760) 

25. The Early Stuarts and Parliament (1603-1635) . . . .31 

30. Puritan Revolution and Restoration (1635-1688) ... 37 

37. Constitutional Government (1688-1760) 42 

44. Social Conditions in England, Early Eighteenth Century . . 49 

III. Absolutism on the Continent of Europe 

53. The Age of Louis XIV 64 

60. The Rise of Russia 70 

66. The Rise of Prussia . . 77 

IV. Struggle for Colonial and Commercial Empire 

72. Contest for Atlantic Trade before 1700 86 

77. English and French Colonies in the XVII Century .. . .91 

83. Commercial Wars between England and France .... 99 

89. England and America, 1763-1789 105 

V. Reform 

94. Beginnings of Modern Treatment of Crime 117 

99. Social and Religious Changes . . . . . . 122 

103. Reform Philosophers . . 126 

107. The Enlightened Despots 129 

PART II 

THE AGE OF REVOLUTION (1789-1849) 

VI. The French Revolution 

111. The Old Regime in France 140 

120. Attempted Reform in France 147 

123. The Early Revolutions 150 

134. The French Republic 158 

vii 



Vlll CONTENTS 

VII. Napoleon 

PAGE 

142. Napoleon Becomes Master of France 172 

146. Napoleon in War and Peace (1802-1806) 176 

151. Triumph and Downfall of Napoleon 183 

VIII. Reconstruction and Reaction (1800-1830) 

160. The Reorganization of Germany 197 

166. The Reconstruction of Europe (1789-1815) . . . . .204 

170. Reaction and Intervention (1815-1830) 208 

IX. The Economic Revolution in England 

178. England before the Industrial Revolution 222 

183. The Agrarian Revolution 228 

187. The Industrial Revolution 231 

193. Effects of Economic Changes 237 

196. Influence of the Economic Revolution on England as a World 

Power 241 

X. Economic Revolution on the Continent 

199. The Peasant and His Land 248 

205. Industry and Commerce 253 

210. Social Progress on the Continent . 1 259 

XI. Political Revolutions (1830-1849) 

215. France (1815-1848) 267 

221. Revolutions of 1848 in Central Europe . . . . . 274 

228. Italy (1830-1849) . . . . 282 

231. Importance of European Revolutions 285 

PART III 

DEMOCRACY AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (1849-1918) 

XII. National Unity (1849-1871) 

235. The Unification of Italy 295 

241. The Unification of Germany (to 1866) 302 

248. The Second French Empire and German Unity . . . .312 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 

CHAPTER I 

EUROPE IN THE EARLY SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 

Political Europe 

1. The Map of Europe. — A comparison of a map of Compari- 
Europe in 1600 with one of that continent in 1914 shows ^1914° 
more similarities than differences. Western Europe was Western 
much the same then as now, although at that time Eng- Eur °P e - 
land and Scotland were still separate kingdoms and Ire- 
land had not yet been united with them to form the 
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 

In central and southeastern Europe we find that great Central 
changes have taken place. Three centuries ago the center Eur °P e - 
of Europe was occupied by the huge, loosely united feudal 
state generally known as the Holy Roman Empire. What 
is now the kingdom of Italy was then a group of separate 
states, two of which, Venice and Genoa, were still re- 
publics. In east-central Europe there were two states, 
Lith-u-a'ni-a and the kingdom of Poland, which no longer 
appear upon the map as separate countries. 

The Turks controlled all southeastern Europe in the South- 
early seventeenth century. The map of that day did ^ur^e 
not show any separate states or principalities correspond- 
ing to Roumania, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece, since the 
people of all those countries as well as most of Hungary 
and southern Russia were under Turkish rule. 

E. E. C = Ashley, Early European Civilization. 
B 1 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Northern 
and east- 
ern Europe. 



Relation of 
noble to 
king in the 
Middle 
Ages. 



Beginnings 
of the 
monarchies. 



Divine 
right of 
monarchs 
in France 
and Eng- 
land (XVII 
Century) . 



In northern and eastern Europe we find the same names 
as to-day but a somewhat different division of territory. 
The kingdom of Sweden then included Finland, now a 
part of Russia. The Russia of that day governed about 
three fourths of the area in Europe that Russia did in 
1914. Into Asia it covered only a small part of the great 
distance to the Pacific Ocean and the Persian gulf. 

2. Historical Development of the Absolute Monarchies. 
— During the centuries preceding the Renaissance and the 
Reformation, central and western Europe was divided 
into a number of areas, each of which was ruled by a king. 
No one of these kings was an absolute monarch, but 
usually each was the most important noble of his country. 
He could call upon the other nobles to furnish him sol- 
diers in time of war and give him necessary help in other 
ways. These nobles were free to render this service to 
the king or not as they pleased. Within their own do- 
mains therefore the great nobles of these countries ruled 
rather than the king. 1 

During the latter part of the Middle Ages, especially 
in France and England, the kings tried to break down the 
authority of the nobles and to make themselves more 
powerful. Not until about 1450, however, did they, 
in France, England, and Spain, finally gain such power 
that they rather than the nobles actually ruled. In the 
three quarters of a century preceding the Protestant 
Reformation, Louis XI in France, Henry VII in Eng- 
land, and Ferdinand I in Spain really united their dominions 
and consolidated the royal authority? 

The successors of these men in France and Spain added 
continually to their power until they became absolute 
monarchs. In France this story belongs rather to the 
seventeenth century than to the preceding epoch. With 
the death of Elizabeth, the English Tudor house came to 

i E. E. C, §§ 478-479. 2 E. E. C, §§ 646-650. 



POLITICAL EUROPE 6 

an end, and a new line of monarchs, the Stuarts, came to 
the throne. The struggle between the Stuarts to main- 
tain their divine right to rule and the people, who de- 
manded some share in the government, is the story of 
England in the seventeenth century. 

3. Absolutism and Liberty on the Continent. — It Arbitrary 
must not be imagined that, because we call these monarchs ^solute ^ 
absolute, they really were all-powerful. To be sure, rule of the 
they did not need to call upon representatives of the ings ' 
nobles and the townsmen to help them make the laws ; 

instead they contented themselves with issuing procla- 
mations directly or through their councils. Their rule 
was not so much absolute, however, as it was arbitrary, 
because neither noble nor townsmen nor peasant was free 
from arbitrary interference by the king and his agents. 

The authority of the absolute monarchs was limited Special 
in part, especially in France and Spain, by the special of^v- 68 
privileges enjoyed by the provinces of their kingdoms. 1 inces, 
In the seventeenth century many cities also still had ^^^ 
many rights which they had gained in the Middle Ages. 
Even smaller villages were allowed a share in their own 
government which reminds us of the medieval English 
manor. We can see from this brief summary that, even 
if the common people were free, the centralized and ab- 
solute government of the king left them few rights in 
addition to those exercised by the self-governing cities 
or communes. 

4. English Central Government. — Since the United Arbitrary 
States grew out of English colonies, the government of Tudors 
which in turn was influenced by the central and local through 

Parliament 
1 When the different duchies, counties, and other provinces had been and the 
united into countries by the kings of the fifteenth and sixteenth cen- P nv y _ 
turies, these provinces were allowed to retain a large number of customs C1 * 

and privileges. The provincial privileges were survivals of old rights of 
government enjoyed by these principalities when the nobles acknowledged 
their king not as a sovereign, but simply as an overlord. (Cf. § 113.) 



4 MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 

governments of the mother country, we must study es- 
pecially the government of England in the beginning of 
the seventeenth century. Although the monarch really 
ruled England, the king or queen governed through the 
Parliament and the Privy Council, for under the Tudors, 
who ruled until 1603, these bodies were the tools of the 
monarchs. Henry VIII and Elizabeth, wishing to govern 
arbitrarily, had dominated Parliament ; usually they had 
persuaded Parliament to do as they desired until the 
later years of Elizabeth's reign. The Stuart kings l 
found that Parliament was very far from being the tool 
that it had been for Henry VIII or Elizabeth. 
Local sT ' 5. Local Government and Individual Liberty in Eng- 

in^nXnd* land ' — In tne ^ oca ^ g° vernment of England the local aris- 
(1600). tocracy had considerable influence. The counties were 

ruled by justices of the peace, selected from the landed 
aristocracy by the king. The smaller districts, the 
parishes, had an assembly of rate-payers to levy taxes and 
elect parish officers, the only important local self-govern- 
ment of Tudor England. 2 
"Rightstof Although Englishmen had more liberties than people 
mftn " " on the Continent, the term did not mean very much in 
1600, in spite of Magna Carta and the system of jury 
trial. But in time, more rights were gained by Eng- 
lishmen. 3 

1 See Chapter II. 

2 The county system was transplanted bodily to Virginia and to some 
other southern colonies. The parish meeting was modified by the Puri- 
tans in New England and survives in the New England town meeting. 

3 When the colonists later gained a larger share of self-government, it 
was worth while to claim these rights which had been guaranteed by the 
colonial charters. For these reasons much was said in America about 
the " rights of Englishmen " in the stirring years before our Revolution- 
ary War. 

It is interesting to notice that out of the semi-medieval English 
conditions in 1600 there was developed in England, within a century, a 
political revolution, that of 1688, which made England a comparatively 
modern T country, politically, and that there occurred among Englishmen 



men. 



LORDS AND PEASANTS 



Lords and Peasants 

6. Position and Privileges of the Nobles. — In cen- Political 

tral and eastern Europe the nobles had practically absolute p° wer °* 

i «•! i , . the nobles. 

control over the lives and property of the people on their 
estates ; most of the laws were made by them, although 
occasionally the customs of the localities limited these 
powers and gave the villeins and even the serfs some rights. 
When a peasant was accused of an offense, he was tried 
in the court of the noble. Even if he were condemned 
to die, he might not appeal to his king or to a higher court. 
The lord had also the right to levy taxes and to collect 
other charges from his people and from travelers. 

Before the close of the Middle Ages the lords in France The oid- 
and England had lost their right to levy and collect taxes S ,sh j?^ ed 
and to dispense justice as they pleased, 1 but the English squire. 
squire of that day was of course the big man of his vil- 
lage. He owned or controlled most of the land on which 
the village stood and which his tenant cultivated. The 
church had probably been built by his predecessors, and 
he had the right to appoint the curate of the parish. He 
was expected and usually was willing to attend divine 
service, even though he slept through most of it. When 
the services were over, he was allowed to leave the chapel 
first, his people uncovering and courtesying before him. 
He spent most of his time on his own estate, rarely 
traveling abroad, and occasionally entertaining his friends 
with fox hunting or some similar sport. He had the 
right to hold any county office, and if he were appointed 

in America, within a century and three quarters, a greater revolution 
which represents even more perfectly the national democracy of the 
modern world. 

1 Before the beginning of the seventeenth century there were few lords 
in either England or France who could decide cases even between tenants 
on their own estates and make that decision final if either tenant wished 
to carry the case to the next higher court, which in England usually was 
presided over by justices of the peace. 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Social 

position 

of the 

greater 

French 

nobles. 



The open* 
field 

system of 
strips. 



Villeins 
and serfs. 
Obligations 
of villeins. 



as justice of the peace, could not [refuse although the 
position carried no salary. He might even^j bejhonored 
by election to Parliament by the voters of the county 
in which he lived. 

The French monarchs, particularly from the time of 
Francis I and Henry IV, gained a good many of the 
political rights of the nobles. They allowed the lords 
who had formerly ruled their local estates to build mag- 
nificent chateaux, in which they gave lavish entertain- 
ments, or to attend those given by the king. Louis XIV 
carried this idea very much farther (§ 55). 

7. Agriculture and Villeinage. — In the seventeenth 
century, as in the Middle Ages, most people lived in 
villages on the estates of the lords and cultivated the sur- 
rounding fields. It was customary to divide the culti- 
vated land into three great fields. In any year one of 
these would be planted to wheat, another to barley, and 
the third would remain uncultivated. The next year 
each field would be used for a different purpose. Each 
of these large fields in turn was subdivided into strips, 
which were very much longer than they were wide and 
contained about an acre apiece. About one third of 
the strips probably belonged to the noble. 

The peasants who were practically free were called 
villeins; they usually had the right to cultivate about 
thirty acres in strips widely separated, possibly ten in 
each field. The villeins owed a fixed amount of work to 
the lord, usually two or three days a week with additional 
time at planting season and harvest, together with such 
payments as a number of chickens, on certain days of the 
year. Other peasants were serfs who were bought and 
sold with the land. Each serf family had its own cottage 
and garden with four or five acre strips in addition. 

By the beginning of the seventeenth century villeinage 
had practically disappeared from England. Those farm- 



LORDS AND PEASANTS 7 

ers who remained on the estates of the nobles usually The 
cultivated separate strips in open fields in common with J^jjf 
their neighbors, and they paid for this land a very much farmer, 
higher rent than their great-grandfathers had been obliged 
to pay. 1 Because of the high rents and other agrarian 
changes a great many of the former tenants had moved 
to the cities, attracted also by the business opportunities 
of the growing towns. 2 

8. Serfdom. — In eastern, central, and southern Europe 
and in the Spanish peninsula practically all peasants were 
still serfs. In fact, the ancestors of these people . had 
been serfs during the Middle Ages. 

The lot of the serf was an unhappy one. He was not 
a slave, for he could not be sold except with the land, 
but he was in no real sense free, since he must spend prac- Extent 
tically his whole time working for the lord, such days and jJomon 
in such ways as the noble demanded. To be sure he the Con- 
was allowed some time for cultivating his own strips of tment - 
land, but he was likely to be called upon by the noble Conditions 
to plow or to weed, or to cut or thresh grain, at a time ° er fg 
when he should have been doing those things for himself. 
Moreover, in eastern Germany, in Russia, in Austria, 
and to some extent in southern Europe, the boys and 
girls of serf families were compelled to spend a number of 
years in the house of the noble doing menial work, often 
without pay of any kind. 

9. Country Life. — As stated above, the people lived 
in small villages, usually at the foot of the hill below the 
manor house of the lord. I Because it had been impossible 
in the Middle Ages for people to live on scattered farms 

1 E. E. C, §§ 664, 720. 

2 In France the villein did not become a free man as in England, nor 
was he able usually to pay for his land in money. Later we shall study 
rather carefully the condition of the French peasants of the late 
eighteenth century (§§ 119, 199), and the changes in a century and a 
half before that time were not important. 



8 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Lifeftn 
villages 
except for 
cottars. 



Houses 
and their 
furniture. 



Food 
and drink. 



without great danger from marauders, there were com- 
paratively few scattered dwellings except those of " squat- 
ters," who had built huts upon the waste lands of the 
estates. In England these "cottars" were permitted, by 
a law of Elizabeth, to have not more than four acres 
of land. 

The rest of the " country " people occupied huts or 
cottages on the village street, each cottage having its 
own garden-plot. The homes were, of course, less crude 
than those occupied by the forefathers of these people 
in the Middle Ages. Nevertheless, they were small, not 
very clean and rather dark, since glass was seldom or 
never found in the windows. Dirt floors were still 
common and rushes were used to a considerable extent in- 
stead of carpets. In the better class of cottages, as in the 
houses of the ordinary burgher, the floors were of stone 
or wood. Chimneys had come into use to some extent, 
even in the homes of the common people, but cooking 
was frequently done out of doors. The people slept on 
straw beds without springs and frequently without bed- 
steads. The furniture was simple and usually home-made, 
as were the wooden trenchers and other utensils used in 
cooking and eating. 

For the common people there was still too little food, 
although vegetables added abundance as well as variety 
to the average meal. Since the Dutch and English 
fishermen made frequent trips to the North Sea fishing 
banks (§ 73), "and the French and English fishermen were 
bringing back cod and herring from similar banks off 
Newfoundland (§ 74), even the common people could 
afford to eat fish more frequently than in earlier centuries. 
Home-brewed beer or ale or mead was consumed in large 
quantities, sometimes serving for food as well as drink. 
In years of plenty^food was abundant, yet on the Conti- 
nent, where the excessive number of tolls (§ 15) made 



LORDS AND PEASANTS 



9 



it impossible to carry grain any considerable distance, 
local famines occurred on the average every third or fourth 
year. 

Business and the Towns 

10. The Large Cities. — The Renaissance, the discov- 
ery of America, and the opening of new sea routes to 
the East caused business to expand greatly. Commerce 
between European nations prospered and there was 
far more trade between Europe and the peoples of 
the far East and the New World than in previous cen- 
turies. This expansion of business led to the growth of 
towns and cities. 1 During the sixteenth century Antwerp 
had developed into a great commercial center. When 
it was almost destroyed by the Spanish in 1576, its trade 
was taken over by other towns, such as Amsterdam. 

The development of England as a sea power during 
this period was due to her interest in colonization both 
in America and in India and to her defeat of the great 
Spanish Armada ; 2 it was reflected particularly in the 
growth of the country's principal city, London. When 
Elizabeth became queen, in 1558, London had fewer 
than 100,000 inhabitants. Even then she was one of the 
largest cities, if not the largest, of western Europe. At 
the opening of the seventeenth century her population 
had almost doubled and within two years after the Resto- 
ration (1660) she boasted a population estimated a little 
less than a half million. 3 



The 

economic 
renaissance 
and the 
growth of 
cities. 



Growth of 
English 
trade and 
of London. 



1 The medieval towns were small and none had a population that 
would compare with that of the modern city. In them were gathered 
artisans who usually belonged to craft gilds (E. E. C, § 557). Other 
gilds were made up of tradesmen or merchants who controlled the sale of 
certain articles within the town or the trade in those articles between 
towns. There was little international trade in the early Middle Ages. 

2 E. E. C, § 699. 

3 No other European capital had as large a population as London. 
Even as late as 1801, at the beginning of the brilliant Napoleonic regime, 



10 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Conditions 
in the 
cities. 



Difference 
between 
early mod- 
ern and 
present-day- 
industry. 



Like their medieval predecessors these cities had rather 
narrow streets, which either were not improved at all 
or were paved very badly. Sidewalks were uncommon, 
even as to-day, in some of the older European cities, 
they are still practically unknown. Streets were not 

lighted at night and 
were patrolled usually 
by guards known as 
the " watch" (§94). 
A police force could 
quell actual disturb- 
ances, but was not 
able to stop street 
fighting or protect the 
unwary citizens who 
ventured forth un- 
armed or unguarded 
after nightfall. As a 
rule the only attrac- 
tive buildings were the 
houses of the nobles, many of whom had their town 
houses at the national capital as well as manor houses 
or castles on one or more country estates. The houses 
of the poor were tenements several stories in height 
with few windows ; they were made less desirable for 
habitation by their filth and general unsanitary condi- 
tions. 

11. Industry Three Centuries Ago. — We must keep 
in mind that, whereas to-day goods are made by large 
corporations, some of which have immense capital, huge 

there were only 547,000 inhabitants in Paris. Vienna, which at this 
period was the home of the emperor and the most important capital in 
Europe, contained with its suburbs in 1800 but 231,000. Two centuries 
earlier its population was considerably less than that of either Paris or 
London. In 1600 Berlin was small and the name Pet'ro-grad (St. Peters- 
burg) did not appear on the map. 




Watchmen and Lanterns 



BUSINESS AND THE TOWNS 



11 



Localized 
industries 

of seven- 



buildings, and thousands of workers, in those days, even 
in the cities, the small shop of a master with a few assist- 
ants was the rule, even where the gild system no longer 
existed. Usually the people of the larger cities were 
interested in commerce rather than in industry. 

At that time there were no manufacturing cities which 
devoted their energy to steel and iron trade, as do Pitts- 
burg in America and Sheffield and Leeds in England teenth 
to-day, although Lyon and some cities of south central century 
France were noted for their metal wares. The towns gave 
more attention to the weaving of cloth, always the most im- 
portant industry of Flanders in northern Belgium, than 
to any other single industry. Those in England and 
northern Europe specialized in the weaving of wool. Some 
of those in southern France and Italy were particularly 
skillful in the weaving of silks and in a few places fine 
cotton goods were made on a limited scale. Some of 
the towns of France were already beginning to specialize 
in fine pottery. Paris in that day took the lead in creat- 
ing new styles in hats. She was also famous for her 
chocolate. In the Middle Ages and until the late eight- 
eenth or early nine- 
teenth centuries, and 
even at the present 
time in eastern 
Europe, household 
industries were com- 
mon (§ 179). 

During the six- 
teenth century man- 
ufacturing, com- 
merce, agriculture, 
and standards of 
living were much 

affected by a great Refining Silver 




The era 
of high 
prices. 



12 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Consolida- 
tion and 
decline of 
gilds. 



change in the value of money. In the Middle Ages 
money had been scarce and consequently prices had 
been low. With the importation from America of large 
quantities of silver and gold, and the opening of new 
silver mines in Germany, Spain, and southern France, 
the precious metals became much more common and 
prices rose to three or four times what they had been. 
Of course some people made large profits ; others suffered 
extraordinary hardships. 1 We complained because prices 
rose 50 per cent in the twenty years before the beginning 
of the Great War. What would we have thought of a 
change several times as great ? 

12. The Gilds. — The medieval cities had been hives 
of industry, carried on usually by the craft gilds. With 
the expansion of business in the sixteenth and seventeenth 
centuries, it was impossible for the gilds to play as large 
a part as formerly in the manufacture and sale of dif- 
ferent commodities. By the close of Elizabeth's reign 
the gilds of England had ceased to have an important 
place in the business life of that nation. They main- 
tained their organizations in some cases for two centuries 
or more, but most goods were thereafter produced at 
home and much business was done by chartered com- 
panies. On the Continent, however, the gilds continued 
to be important. 2 

1 Those who owned land, who could and did increase their rents 
(E. E. C. §§ 664-665) were fortunate, but their tenants were not. Those 
tenants, as in many parts of France, that continued to pay a customary 
rent made a large profit on their crops, as the price of foods and other 
commodities rose several fold. Laborers and others whose wages rose 
slowly therefore had lower standards of living than formerly. 

2 In the Netherlands and Germany the gilds were more powerful and 
continued for a century or two longer to control both the making and the 
sale of goods. In France the gilds were encouraged and were organized 
into large companies, chiefly for the purpose of furnishing revenues to the 
king. They lost some of their former business to chartered companies 
or to other capitalists who carried on industry on a larger scale than 
known in the Middle Ages. 



BUSINESS AND THE TOWNS 13 

Besides their problems due to the rise of the monarchies Some 
and the growth of new industries, the gilds fought one ^ u S^ of 
another. The shoe-makers objected when the cobblers 
made and sold new shoes instead of doing repair work 
exclusively. In Paris the meat cooks quarreled suc- 
cessfully at first with the gild cooks but unsuccessfully 
later with the poulterers. The French haberdashery 
corporation tried at the same time to get royal permis- 
sion to make and sell new kinds of hats and to keep 
rival gilds from making substitute forms of headgear. 
The gilds not only quarreled with one another but they 
sometimes fought with brotherhoods of workmen. 

13. Government Regulation of Industry. — During Beginnings 
the Middle Ages the gilds' rather than the king's govern- regulation* 
ment regulated the method of manufacture for different by the 
articles and prescribed the minimum quality of goods g( ^f e rnment 
that might be sold bj r members of the craft. Under the in the 
three Edwards in England, regulations were introduced A x es e 

to control both the manufacture and the exportation and 
importation of goods. These early tariffs placed duties 
on wools and wines. 

In France as in England royal supervision was devel- Govern- 
oped largely for the purpose of bringing the king revenues. Pf. 11 * re . gu " 
At the beginning of the seventeenth century regulation France. 
by the royal government was not onerous, but we shall 
see later (§ 56) how under Colbert, the great minister of 
Louis XIV, supervision of manufacture and of trade was 
carried to an extreme, even to defining the width of cloth 
and the number of threads per inch. Colbert's complete 
regulations filled several volumes and left the masters 
little opportunity to improve methods. In central and 
eastern Europe the regulation of industry was still con- 
trolled by the gilds rather than by the governments. 

14. The Bourgeoisie. — The name bourgeoisie (boor- 
zhwa-ze') is given to the business class which developed 



14 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Growth 
of the 
burgess 
class and 
its 
influence. 



Bourgeoisie 
demands 
for 

position] 
and privi- 
leges. 



Markets 
and fairs 
in the 
seventeenth 
century.] 



in burgs or cities. The expansion of business and the 
new commercial opportunities during the Renaissance 
made it possible for some of these merchants, especially 
those who enjoyed monopolies or other royal favors, to 
amass fortunes which were far beyond the wildest dreams 
of the medieval craftsman or merchant. 

Rich as the bourgeoisie became and "powerful as they 
were in the new branches of manufacturing, in commerce, 
and in banking, they frequently failed to gain the 'privi- 
leges which were even more to them than money. In 
France, for example, the so-called Hu'gue-not Wars were 
to a great extent due to the controversies between the old 
nobility, which was striving to keep its ancient privileges, 
prestige, and power, and the new merchant class, whose 
members sought to secure a social position corresponding 
to their wealth. It was impossible for a merchant to 
secure an invitation to the French court. 

15. Local and National Trade. — Everywhere in 
Europe during the early part of the seventeenth century 




Old Market, Modern View 



BUSINESS AND THE TOWNS 



15 



the local trade showed characteristics similar to those 
that distinguished it in the Middle Ages. 1 The people 
of the villages still paid a large part or the whole of their 
rents in grain or other products. The remainder of the 
goods which they produced they either used themselves 
or they brought to a common place called a market, where 
on one or two days in a week the villagers and their friends 
gathered. Wheat might be exchanged for hay, or a pig 
for cloth, or a pair of shoes for a cask of ale. In these 
later days, when a wholesale merchant might have a 
larger business than had been possible in the Middle 
Ages, less attention was paid to the fairs, which were so 
prominent a characteristic of general trade in medieval 
times. 2 

Trade between English communities had always been 
comparatively free from tolls or dues. On the Continent, 
however, in the early seventeenth century as in the Middle 
Ages, trade between the different villages was hampered 
by tolls, which were collected at the borders of each estate. 
Consequently by 1600 national trade, that is trade between 
distant parts of a country, had not developed greatly, al- 
though later in the seventeenth century some tolls were 
abolished. 3 A great many highways were built, and some 
canals were constructed. 



Slow devel- 
opment of 
national* 
trade. 



1 E. E. C, §§ 560-561. 

2 Even in England the fair at Stourbridge (E. E. C, § 562) was held 
throughout the seventeenth century and far into the eighteenth. On 
the Continent fairs continued to be a general means of exchanging prod- 
ucts at a later date than in England, and in Russia] fairs were rather 
common until very recent times. 

3 In France these unnecessary and objectionable regulations were 
abolished to some extent in the sixteenth century. For example by 
the ordinance of 1505 the tolls on the Loire (Lwar) river were re- 
duced again to about 150 as in the Middle Ages (E. E. C, p. 473). 
Later (1571) the number was supposed to be limited to 7 and the river 
was to be freed from dams, obstructing piers, and other obstacles to navi- 
gation. Few tolls were abolished, however, before the time of Colbert 
(§ 56). Even in France a great many tolls existed, except on the main 



16 MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 

Eastern 16. General Trade. — National trade, 1 as well as that 

Europeans w ^ n ^ ne East and with American colonies, developed con- 
siderably after the Renaissance. Trade with the East 
was carried on more extensively at this time than in the 
Middle Ages, because goods were now carried chiefly in 
vessels which sailed from European ports, especially in the 
Netherlands, direct to India and the East Indies. Enor- 
mous profits were made of course upon the spices, teas, 
silks, cotton goods, sugar, and other commodities brought 
from the far East, usually via the Cape of Good Hope. 2 
In 1600 the English organized the famous East India 
Company, which established factories or trading posts on 
the shores of India and gained a share in the lucrative 
Eastern trade. 3 

highways, until long after Colbert's time. In Prussia tolls were not 
removed to any great extent until the time of Frederick the Great and in 
general in central and southern Europe the abolition of medieval tolls 
did not take place until the last part of the eighteenth century or the early 
decades of the nineteenth. 

1 There was little trade among the European nations before the Renais- 
sance. The modern national tariff was unnecessary in the medieval period 
for that reason and because there were no real nations at that time. 
With the development of the monarchies, however, and the need of 
revenues, duties were collected upon all goods brought into each country 
from any other European nation, or from countries in the far East, or 
from colonies in the New World. The main object of course was revenue, 
but an important object, especially during the seventeenth and eighteenth 
centuries, was the development of a new national policy called the mer- 
cantilist system (E. E. C, § 727). The root idea of mercantilism was that a 
country becomes rich if it increases its supply of gold and silver. 

2 During the Middle Ages this Asiatic trade was largely in the hands 
of the Saracens and the] merchants of Venice and Genoa. In the later 
sixteenth century itTiad been almost monopolized by the Portuguese. 
In the later sixteenth and in the seventeenth centuries it was monopolized 
almost as much by the Dutch, but the English and French also sought a 
share in this eastern trade. 

3 The French had some trading posts on the coasts of the peninsula of 
Hindustan. The Dutch controlled not only the way station at the Cape 
of Good Hope, but also the Island of Ceylon and many of the East India 
islands themselves. The Portuguese still kept the Spice Islands, the 
Mo-luc'cas, and some of the other East Indies, although their trade had 
declined rapidly before 1600. 



BUSINESS AND THE TOWNS 17 

17. Trade with the American Colonies. — In the early Articles 
seventeenth century there was a growing trade between f^^^mer- 
Europe and the American colonies. The most important ica in the 
commodities imported from the New World were the pre- teenth eVeD ~ 
cious metals, from the Spanish colonies of Mexico and century. 
Peru ; sugar, from Brazil, which belonged to Portugal, and 

from the Spanish, Dutch, and French colonies in the West 
Indies ; tobacco, from the West Indies and later from Vir- 
ginia ; fish, from Newfoundland ; and furs, which later were 
imported in large quantities from New Amsterdam and the 
French settlements along the St. Lawrence river. This 
colonial trade, which grew to considerable proportions and 
was of very great importance in the eighteenth century, 
will be described more fully in Chapter IV. We should 
note here, however, that no American colony was per- 
mitted to trade with any European country that it pleased ; 
it was forced to trade almost exclusively with its own 
mother country (§ 81). 

Religious and Social Conditions 

18. The Medieval Church and the Reformation. — In Organiza- 
the seventeenth century, as at the present time, southern tlon k an f d th 
Europe was Roman Catholic, northern Europe with the medieval 
exception of Ireland was Protestant, and eastern Europe 
was Greek Catholic. It will be remembered that during 
the Middle Ages there was only one Church in western 
and central Europe. 1 This Church was a highly organized 
body under the Pope, bishops, and lesser clergy. It was 
not only a religious organization, but it controlled a large 
part of the land, looked after travelers, education, the poor, 
and performed numerous other duties now attended to by 
governments. There had been protests against the secu- 
lar power and to some extent against the religious uni- 
formity, maintained by the medieval Church. Among 

1 E. E. C, Chap. XVIII. 



Church. 



18 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



The Refor- 
mation: ^ ~. 
causes and 
leaders. 



The 

Counter; 
Reforma- 
tion. 



A 



Extent 
and organ- 
ization. 



these were the movements led by Wyclifj in England * 
and by Huss in Bohemia. 2 

In the early part of the sixteenth century an upheaval 
occurred within the Church. This was due to many 
causes other than those distinctively religious : the rise of 
the monarchies, the new learning of the Renaissance, the 
demand that the Church should give less of its energy to 
secular interests, disgust with the abuses which had crept 
into the Church's administration of affairs, and the general 
desire of the time for change. This upheaval or revolu- 
tion we call the Reformation? It was led by Martin 
Luther, who in 1517 made the first decided break with the 
papacy by fastening on the church door of Wittenberg 
95 theses against the sale of indulgences. Other leaders 
of the Protestant movement were Zwingli (Tswing'li) 
in Switzerland and John Calvin, a Frenchman who spent 
most of his life in Switzerland. 

The Protestant movement spread rapidly during the 
forty years following Luther's first attack ; its progress was 
checked by a Counter Reformation* within the older 
Church. The opposition to Protestantism was led chiefly 
by a new military order known as the " Society of Jesus," 
which was founded by Ig-na'ti-us Loy-o'la about 1540, 
and whose members are called Jesuits. 

19. The Roman Catholic Church. — In the early part 
of the seventeenth century five countries were still predom- 
inantly or absolutely Roman Catholic. These were Portu- 
gal, Spain, France, " Austria," and " Italy." The reli- 
gious organization of the Roman Catholic Church was 
similar to that which existed in the Middle Ages and which 
prevails to-day. The head was the Pope, who was selected 
by a council of cardinals usually from the Italian clergy. 
Because of the Reformation his religious authority ex- 



i E. E. c, § 619. 
*E. E. C, §§ 676-681. 



2 E. E. C, § 620. 

4 E. E. C, §§ 687-689. 



RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS 19 

tended over a smaller area than had that of his medieval 
predecessors, but it was otherwise unimpaired. His secular 
authority on the contrary had been reduced greatly since 
the days when Innocent III * wielded not only great tem- 
poral power but claimed to be overlord of all European 
monarchs. 

In the early seventeenth century the Roman Catholic Lands, rev- 
Church owned a lame amount of land, most of which it f nu . es » and 
& ' business ,. 

let out to villeins or cultivated by the labor of serfs. In of Church 
many Catholic states of Germany and in a few other ^ g ^ mza " 
countries, some of the church lands, particularly those be- 
longing to the religious orders, had been secularized (fre- 
quently a polite name for confiscation) by the different 
rulers. 2 In addition to the produce or money rents se- 
cured from these lands, the church received from its mem- 
bers the great tithe and the lesser tithe, 3 as well as other 
contributions of different kinds. Attention was given 
by the Church to education and to dispensing charity 
or caring for the sick in the hospitals, which increased 
considerably in number during the seventeenth century. 4 

20. Church and State in France and Germany. — The Independ- 
clergy of France had always been distinguished for their ^® °^ the 
independent attitude toward the papacy. We see evi- church 
dences of this during the barbarian invasions, 5 in connec- ^ °goo 
tion with the Babylonian Captivity, 6 and especially in the 
Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges (Bourzh) (1438). In 1516, 

» E. E. c, § 533. 

2 In practically all Protestant countries, property of the old church 
was either taken over by the new churches or appropriated (secularized) 
by the government. 

3 E. E. C, § 521. 

4 Since the religious orders were less important than in the Middle 
Ages, comparatively little business was transacted in and by the monas- 
teries (E. E. C, §§ 505-512), although the Jesuits were engaged in trade 
and had commercial and banking houses not only in European cities but 
in the New World. 

5 E. E. C, §425. «E. E. C, §618. 



20 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Political 
and reli- 
gious condi- 
tions in 
Germany 
after 1648. 



Break of 
Henry 
VIII with 
the papacy. 



the year before Luther posted his theses at Wittenberg, 
Francis I of France made a concordat with the Pope by 
which the French Church remained Catholic but continued 
its independent position under the control of the king. 

In 1600 Germany included not only most of the German 
Empire of to-day, but also Austria proper and some other 
territories. It was divided into many states — kingdoms, 
principalities, free cities, and a large number of petty ec- 
clesiastical or secular districts — each of which wished to 
be self-governing and was to a large extent independent. 
In the early part of the seventeenth century x a great 
politico -religious controversy broke out which lasted for 
three decades, and is therefore known as the Thirty Years' 
War. It ended with the Peace of Westphalia (1648), 2 
which secured for the princes of each state or for each 
town the right to keep, as its own religion, any one of the 
three faiths, Catholic, Lutheran, or Calvinist. 

21. The Anglican Church. — In England more than 
in any other Protestant country the break with Rome was 
the work not of the people under religious leaders, but 
of the king. It will be remembered that when Henry VIII 
wished to divorce Catharine of Aragon and the Pope with- 
held his consent, Henry secured a divorce through an Eng- 
lish court and had Parliament pass an Act of Supremacy 3 
which made him head of the English Church instead of the 
Pope. Henry suppressed the monasteries throughout 
the country, but it must not be supposed that he intro- 
duced reforms which made England really Protestant. 

1 In 1555, by the Peace of Augsburg (E. E. C., § 681), the right was 
given to all princes and towns to decide for themselves whether they and 
their people should be Catholics or Lutherans. All the people in each 
principality, state, or town were thereafter supposed to have exactly the 
same religious faith. Catholic rulers as well as Protestant proceeded to 
secularize a great deal of church property, because they wanted the 
lands and the revenues for themselves. The authorities found it im- 
possible to keep some of their people from embracing other new faiths. 

2 E. E. C, § 707. 3 E. E. C, § 685. 



RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS 



21 



Under Henry's only son, Edward VI, whose short rule 
closed with his death at the age of sixteen, Protestantism 
was really introduced 
in England, for many 
Roman Catholic cus- 
toms and usages were 
abolished, and the Eng- 
lish prayer book was in- 
troduced. But Queen 
Elizabeth, who was in- 
different to religious 
questions, adopted a 
compromise which 
made her the unques- 
tioned head of the 
Church as well as of the 
State and made use 
of the English prayer 
book as the basis of the 
church service. Under 
her direction Parlia- 
ment passed laws against Dissenters, that is, against those 
who did not accept this "An'glican" Church. Prominent 
among these Dissenters were the Puritan (§ 26) leaders. 1 

22. Religious Toleration and Liberty. — It would 
naturally be supposed that, since the Reformation was a 
revolt against arbitrary religious rule and privileges, as 
well as against the abuses of the Church universal of that 
day, the first Protestants would have established religious 
liberty or toleration, but they learned that it did not work 
in practice. 2 Therefore in the sixtsanth century not only 

1 In Scotland the Puritan faith spread so rapidly that the Covenanters, 
who agreed not to accept the old form of rule or worship, really gained 
control of the government and under John Knox established a Puritan 
church in the Presbyterian form. 

2 Luther at one time based his opposition to the Catholic Church on 




St. Paul's Cathedral, London 



Modified 
Protestant- 
ism estab- 
lished by 
Queen 
Elizabeth. 



Intolerance 
among all^ t 
sects in 
the six- 1 w 
teenth cen- 
tury. 



22 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Spread of. 

religious 

toleration 



Beginnings 
of religious 
iberty. 



were Catholics and Protestants intolerant of each other's 
beliefs, but every Protestant sect was exceedingly in- 
tolerant toward every other. 

We must understand that when a country has a state 
church, toleration is simply permission granted by law to 
other sects to hold services of their own. The beginning 
of religious toleration as a doctrine is to be found among 
those religious sects which were not numerous and power- 
ful enough to gain for themselves control of any state. 
The last part of the sixteenth and the early part of the 
seventeenth century is distinguished for the rapid growth of 
the idea of toleration. In France, Henry IV, who had ac- 
cepted Catholicism as the state religion, in 1598 granted re- 
ligious toleration to Huguenots (Edict of Nantes (Nant)). 1 
In Holland religious toleration was permitted for most 
Protestant sects. In Bohemia religious toleration was 
granted to some faiths in 1609. In England, although 
there was no religious toleration by law, there was con- 
siderable toleration in practice in spite of the declaration 
of James I in 1606 that he would make the separatist Puri- 
tans conform or force them to leave England. 

We hear it said that the Puritans came to America for 
religious liberty, which is a radically different thing of 
course from toleration. Under religious liberty there is 
no state church, and every person may worship as he 
pleases. Nothing is farther from the truth, for the Puri- 
tans came solely for the purpose of establishing their own 
church, and they did not tolerate any other Protestants, 
whether Baptists, Quakers, or any other sect. Not until 



the ground that a man's salvation depends upon*his true relation to God 
through his own personal faith (justification by faith). He found that 
hejwas obliged to modify that doctrine, which would leave to each member 
of a church the right to believe exactly what he pleased, for he learned 
that, if a church is organized at all, it must be organized by those who 
have 1 practically the same beliefs. 
*i E. E. C, p. 702. 



RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS 23 

Roger Williams, driven from Massachusetts Bay colony 
chiefly because of his religious heresy, founded Providence 
in Rhode Island, and declared that the state and religion 
must be separated, that the government should have no 
control over religion, and that therefore any one might 
worship as he wished, did religious liberty find its first 
foothold in the modern world. 

23. Education. — The Renaissance gave an impetus Parochial 
not only to the study of the classics, but also to schools schools - 
for the sons of burghers and the better class of farmers. 
On the Continent, especially in the country districts, edu- 
cation was conducted almost exclusively in Catholic 
countries by the parish authorities, either by the priest 
himself or by some one selected by the bishop. Very great 
attention was given therefore to instruction which we 
should call religious rather than secular. 

In many towns in England and on the Continent schools Towni 
were established under the control of the municipal au- schools - 
thorities. A little broader education was given than had 
been done in the older church schools, but the pupils as 
a rule were obliged to pay rates for the support of the 
schoolmaster, whose salary was exceedingly low, averaging 
£16 in England. 

In England schools of the early seventeenth century TheEng- 
were very different from those which had existed two cen- hs ^ a . n< * 
turies earlier. Many of them were denominational schools ; grammar 
others were not under religious domination but were con- sch ° o1 - 
trolled by the local authorities. 1 Instruction was given 
in Latin, grammar, and numbers rather than in some of 
the older subjects. Ordinarily charges were made for 
instruction and rates were paid by those who attended the 
schools. In a few cases, as in that of John Colet's school, 
no charge was made and in a few other instances charity 
schools were founded. The schools which were estab- 

1 E.'E. C, §717. 



24 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Develop- 
ment of 
new 

scientific 
methods 
of study. 



Work of 
early 
modern 
scientists. 



lished in almost all New England towns before 1650, and 
the schools that later were started by the colonies farther 
South were in almost all cases closely patterned after the 
grammar schools of England of this period. Of course 
the day of free education, of education for girls in schools, 
of studying life and of training for life had not come yet, 
either in England, on the Continent, or in America. 

24. The New Science. — The new science was largely 
a product of the new spirit of the Renaissance ; it was in 
turn a cause of the further development of democracy, a 
greater demand for liberty, and a fresh intellectual expan- 
sion. We must not suppose that the Middle Ages knew 
nothing whatever of science, because we know that the 
Saracen schools of Spain and southern Italy and the 
Universities at Oxford, Cambridge, and on the Continent 
did study the science known to the Greeks and some science 
that had been developed later. They did not study this 
science, however, very carefully or critically; in other 
words they did not study in a really scientific spirit. It 
was not until the late sixteenth and the early seventeenth 
century that two great philosophers, an Englishman, Sir 
Francis Bacon, and a Frenchman, Rene Descartes (Day- 
cart'), taught that science and all other subjects should 
be studied at first hand, with an open and a critical 
mind. 

The beginnings of modern science may be traced back 
to Co-per'ni-cus, who died in 1543. Copernicus, a mathe- 
matician, proved by elaborate and accurate reasoning that 
the sun, not the earth, is the center of our solar system, 
and that the earth and planets revolve around the sun. It 
was not until after the opening of the seventeenth century 
that other scientists and astronomers carried on the work 
which he began. After 1600 Gal-i-le'o constructed a tele- 
scope and by his observations showed that the Copernican 
theory is correct. Still later the great English scientist, 



RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS 25 

Sir Isaac Newton, worked out the law of gravitation. 
With these notable beginnings it was possible for modern 
science to develop, though slowly, throughout the eight- 
eenth century. None the less, when we compare the 
scientific achievements of recent and earlier centuries, we 
are almost inclined to the belief that modern science is 
practically the product of the last century. 

General References 

Cross, History of England and Greater Britain, 338-34-7, 401-420. 

Prothero, English Farming, Past and Present, 78-129. 

Stephenson, The Elizabethan People. 

Cheyney, European Background of American History, 200-315. 

Ashley, Economic Organisation of England, 88-139. 

Cheyney, Industrial and Social History of England, 136-198. 

Warner, Landmarks in English Industrial History, 150-243. 

Gibbins, Industrial History of England, 82-119. 

Cunningham, Western Civilization in Its Economic Aspects, 
II, 146-224. 

Cambridge Modern History, I, 493-531. 

Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce in 
Modern Times, I, 1-562. 

Hoover (eds.), Agrieola's De Re Metallica. 

Hugon, Social France in the Seventeenth Century. 

Sydney, England and the English in the Eighteenth Century, 
2 vols. 

Mead, The Grand Tour in the Eighteenth Century. 

Traill and Mann (eds.), Social England, III (part II), IV. 

Topics 

Break-tjp of the Manor : Ashley, Economic Organization 
of England, 44-67 ; Warner, Landmarks in English Industrial 
History, 134-150 ; Cheyney, Industrial and Social History of 
England, 99-133. 

English Agriculture : Prothero, English Farming, Past 
and Present, 78-102 ; Cunningham, Growth of English Industry 
and Commerce in Modern Times, I, 100-119; Gibbins, Industrial 
History of England, 108-120. 

Beginnings of Capital and Trade : Ashley, Economic Organ- 
ization of England, 68-87 ; Cheyney, Industrial and Social 



26 MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 

History of England, 161-172; Warner, Landmarks in English 
Industrial History, 150-208; Cunningham, Western Civilization 
in Its Economic Aspects, II, 162-224. 

Beginnings of Modern Science : Snyder, The World Ma- 
chine, 161-266; Sedgwick and Tyler, Short History of Science, 
191-229, 255-272 ; Williams, Every Day Science, I, 53-123, 192- 
251. 

Studies 

1. Sixteenth century enclosures. Cheyney, Industrial and 
Social History of England, 141-147. 

2. The nobility two or three centuries ago. Lowell, The 
Eve of the French Revolution, 70-82. 

3. Sports in England. Stephenson, The Elizabethan People, 
102-109. 

4. Merrie England in Elizabeth's Day. Synge, Social Life 
in England, 161-189. 

5. Problems of London Life. Cunningham, Growth of 
English Industry and Commerce in Modern Times, I, 312-324. 

6. Capital and labor for the colonies. Cunningham, 
Growth of English Industry and Commerce in Modern Times, I, 
342-350. 

7. Decline of the English gilds. Cheyney, Industrial and 
Social History of England, 147-161. 

8. The Eastland Company and Muscovy Merchants. 
Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce in 
Modern Times, I, 234-241. 

9. The greatest maritime people of the seventeenth cen- 
tury. Cunningham, Western Civilization in Its Economic 
Aspects, II, 196-206. 

10. Religious toleration. Bury, History of Freedom of 
Thought, 92-127. 

11.. Seventeenth century schools. Parker, History of Modern 
Eleme ntary Education, 49-64. 

Questions 

1. What were the most important countries of Europe 
three centuries ago ? What countries appeared on the map then 
which have since disappeared? What countries have since 
appeared on the map ? 

2. What powers had the kings gained at the expense of the 
nobles? Give some idea of the privileges of provinces or towns 



EUROPE IN EARLY XVII CENTURY 27 

and liberties possessed by the people of that day. Have our 
American states privileges or rights corresponding to those of the 
seventeenth century province? Do American cities to-day 
possess any privileges corresponding to those of early modern 
towns? Name at least five respects in which we have more 
liberty to-day than our ancestors had three centuries ago. 

3. How was the central government of England organized 
in 1600? What was the nature of English local government of 
that day? 

4. Had the lords lost more political powers or more privi- 
leges during the later Middle Ages? 

5. Is there any connection between the break-up of the 
manorial system and the abolition of villeinage? Where were 
there serfs in 1600, and to what extent were they better off than 
their ancestors? How do you account for the abolition of 
villeinage in some places and the retention of serfdom in others ? 

6. In what respects had conditions in the cities improved? 
(Cf. E. E. C, §§ 552-554.) 

7. Under what conditions were most goods produced three 
centuries ago? To what extent were gilds still in existence? 
How much government regulation was there? Compare these 
three things in Europe then and America now. 

8. Compare conditions in the Middle Ages and in 1600 
regarding the following subjects : local trade, national and inter- 
national trade, eastern trade, and commerce with the colonies. 

9. Name at least three conditions which made it impossible 
for the medieval Church to retain its universal rule and exten- 
sive temporal authority in the early modern period. Give some 
idea of the organization, clergy, and work of the Roman Catholic 
Church at this time. 

10. Explain why the rise of the nations created a problem 
of Church and State in both Catholic and Protestant countries. 
Explain why a separate church was organized in England and 
show the nature of the rule and worship within that church. 
Explain why religious toleration was an inevitable product 
of the Renaissance movement, but explain also why religious 
toleration and liberty were not allowed by either Protestants 
or Catholics in the sixteenth century. 

11. Compare education of ordinary scholars in the Middle 
Ages, in the English or colonial grammar schools of the seven- 
teenth century, and in America to-day. Why was a new science 
inevitable as a result of the Renaissance? 



28 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 







■ . ., .■,■■■■ ' ■. rap, 

^■■■■■■:..v-4;^-? 



rif":IS"l ;J 





PART I 

THE AGE OF ABSOLUTISM (1603-1789) 



30 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 




CHAPTER II 

ENGLAND (1603-1760) 

The Early Stuarts and Parliament (1603-1635) 

25. James I and Parliament. — On the death of Queen "Personal 
Elizabeth, James of Scotland became king of England union "of 
(1603-1625), and for a century the two kingdoms were and Scot- 
united simply because they had the same king. In 1707 land under 
their parliaments were combined and they were united kings, 
under the name of the kingdom of Great Britain. Eliz- 
abeth was the last of the Tudor line ; James was the first 
of the Stuart monarchs. 1 

The new king was learned but not wise. He believed The 
that he had a " divine right " to rule. He declared, "It ^™ 
is atheism and blasphemy to dispute what God can do . . . kings." 
so it is presumption and high contempt in a subject to 
dispute what a king can do." 

It was not long before there was a sharp dispute be- 
tween the king, ruling by divine right, and the Parliament, 



1 The Stuart kings were 



James I (1603-1625) 



Charles I 
(1625-1649) 

I 



Charles II James II 

(1660-1685) (1685-1688) 



Mary and William Anne 

(1689-1701) (1701-1715) 



[George I] 



31 



32 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Conflict 

between 

James and 

Parliament 

over 

"supplies." 



Beginnings 
of the great 
Puritan 
movement 
and ideas 
of the 
Puritans. 



made up largely of Puritans, who demanded a real share 
in the government. This conflict arose chiefly over the 
granting of " supplies," or royal revenues, by Parlia- 
ment. Parliament ordinarily refused to give the king 
money unless he gave Parliament privileges in return. 
Consequently James went without money and Parliament 
did not meet often during his reign. 1 

26. The Puritans. — The Puritan movement 2 started 
when refugees fled to Geneva from the persecutions of 
Mary Tudor. 3 In Geneva, they gladly followed the 
suggestions of John Calvin. The Scriptures, especially the 
Old Testament, were studied with unflagging zeal. They 
favored the election of pastors by churches and often pre- 
ferred the rule of churches by elders. They were narrow 
and intense, severe in self-discipline, moral and upright, 
and they attached an importance to simple forms that is 
amazing to a person of the twentieth century. Their de- 
sire to raise the low moral standard of the time made them 
go to the opposite extreme, and their opposition to amuse- 
ments was rabid. We are almost tempted to believe the 
statement that they objected to the cruel sport of bear- 

1 James was anxious to make an alliance with Spain. In the end 
he failed to secure a Spanish princess for his son, Charles, because 
Spain demanded in return concessions to the English Catholics, which 
James dared not grant. Finally Charles married a French princess, 
Henrietta Maria, and both he and his father secretly promised Riche- 
lieu (Rish-lyu') that the English Catholics should be treated more 
leniently. 

2 In Scotland, the Puritans were, almost without exception, Presby- 
terians, favoring the rule of the church by elders or representatives, but 
in England there were three different groups. The largest of these 
groups, the "Puritans" proper, remained in the established or Anglican 
Church, but wished to "purify" the church service of old or "papist" 
forms. A second group, the Presbyterians, wished a form of government 
by presbyters or elders to be substituted for the rule of the bishop, and 
a third group, called Independents, insisted that each church should be 
ruled by its congregation. Those Puritans who were willing to leave the 
Anglicanfchurch were called Separatists. 

3 E.?E. C, § 686. 



EARLY STUARTS AND PARLIAMENT 



33 



baiting less because it gave pain to the bear than because 
it afforded pleasure to the spectators. 




A Puritan 



St. Gaudens 



The Puritans of England hoped for great things from 
James, since he came to them from a land of Puritans, but 
James had had enough Puritanism to last him the rest of 
his life. At the Hampton Court Conference (1604), where 
the reforms desired by the Puritans were discussed, he 
angrily declared that Puritanism * " agreeth as well with 

1 Presbyterianism. 
D 



Hampton 

Court 

Conference. 



34 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Why 
Charles 
needed a 
large 

amount of 
re\ enue. 



monarchy as God and the Devil." He insisted that the 
Separatist Puritans should conform to the requirements 
of the Anglican church or he would " harry them out of 
the land." He was as good as his word; many Separa- 
tists were obliged to leave England for Holland, whence 
several years later many of them, known as " Pilgrims," 
came to Plymouth colony on the coast of Massachusetts. 

27. Charles I and 
Parliament. — When 
James I died, in 1625, 
his oldest son became 
king, with the title 
Charles I. Charles 
was radically different 
from his father, being 
handsome and attrac- 
tive. Although hon- 
est, upright, and re- 
ligious, Charles was 
silent, secretive, and 
unable to understand 
what the people 
wanted. From the 
first, he needed money, 
and his wars increased 
from Parlia- 




Charles I, by Van Dyck 



his need, but he did not get any revenue 
ment. 1 

Charles was now forced to resort to any expedient to 
get money. He asked in every county for free gifts, but 
few were made. He then collected forced loans. He 

1 When Charles asked Parliament to vote him "supplies," Parliament 
responded by criticizing the king's favorite, Buckingham, and condemn- 
ing the failure of a miserable campaign against the Spanish. The king 
dissolved Parliament. The next year, it was called again. Again it 
was dissolved, without voting funds, in order to prevent the impeach- 
ment of Buckingham. 



(1628). 



EARLY STUARTS AND PARLIAMENT 35 

saved expenses by quartering troops upon the people. Expedients 
He levied tonnage and poundage duties, 1 although Parlia- Charles ' i 
ment had granted them to him only from year to year, not to raise 
for the whole of his reign, as had been done with previous money - 
sovereigns for more than a century. 

28. The Petition of Right. — When Parliament met Provisions 
in 1628, the House of Commons insisted upon a. redress p et j t i on 
of grievances. It drew up a Petition of Right, to which of Right 
the king reluctantly gave his consent. This great docu- 
ment provided that (1) the king should not collect gifts, 
loans, benevolences, or taxes without the consent of 
Parliament; (2) people should not be kept imprisoned 
arbitrarily ; (3) martial law should not be used in time of 
peace ; and (4) quartering of soldiers on the people was 
prohibited. This Petition of Right is one of the most 
important documents in the English Constitution. 

When the Commons sought to discuss their religious 
grievances, Charles at once dissolved Parliament. 2 For 
eleven years no Parliament met in England. The king 
imprisoned Eliot and four associates who had opposed 
him in Parliament, Eliot dying in prison a few years 
later. By the use of arbitrary courts which did not allow 
jury trial, the Court of the Star Chamber 3 and the Court 
of High Commission, Charles ruled England about as he 
pleased. 

29. Arbitrary Rule of Charles I (1629-1635). — With 
the aid of Laud, later archbishop of Canterbury, Charles 

1 E. E. C, § 592, n. 2. 

2 Just before adjournment, amidst intense excitement, Sir John Eliot 
introduced three famous resolutions. These resolutions declared that 
those who made innovations in religion, either of form or of doctrine; 
those who advised the levying of tonnage and poundage without the con- 
sent of Parliament ; and those who paid tonnage and poundage, were 
betrayers of the liberty of England and enemies of the commonwealth. 
With shouts of "aye, aye" the Commons adopted the resolutions, as 
they dispersed. 

»E. E. C, §649. 



36 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Laud's 
high church 
policy for 
all churches. 



Unusual 
methods 
used by 
Charles to 
secure 
revenue. 



Ship money 
and the 
Hampden 



introduced into the church service many high church 
forms that were odious to the Puritans. Laud was will- 
ing that men should interpret the Scriptures as they de- 
sired, but he insisted that all churches and all clergymen 
observe these new forms, such as wearing the surplice and 
keeping the communion table at the east end of the choir. 

Without a Parlia- 
ment to grant him 
supplies, Charles 
was forced to ob- 
tain money in other 
ways. Under a 
very old law he 
compelled men to 
be knighted, the 
king's treasury 
profiting by the 
fees and fines. The 
Crown seized lands 
to which it had a 
slight claim under 
the old feudal law, 
or it left the lands 
in the hands of the 
holders in return 
for a money pay- 
ment. Even these arbitrary assessments did not give 
Charles enough revenue. He then levied on the seacoast 
towns an assessment for the royal navy, called " ship 
money.' ' As there was precedent for this in time of war, 
the people paid the tax. 

The next year (1635) a second levy of ship money was 
made. This time the inland towns were included also. 
John Hampden, a country squire, refused to pay the 
levy on the ground that it was a tax which had not been 




Archbishop Laud 



EARLY STUARTS AND PARLIAMENT 37 

approved by Parliament. Since Charles controlled the 
court before which Hampden was tried, it decided against 
Hampden by a vote of seven judges to five. This was a 
legal victory for Charles but a moral victory for the oppo- 
sition. This arbitral government of Charles caused 
many Puritans to migrate to the New World. In New 
England they established colonies which they governed as 
they pleased; in them they had their own church (§ 79). 

Puritan Revolution and the Restoration 

(1635-1688) 

30. Events Leading to Civil War. — In 1637, Charles Trouble 
tried to force the Scotch to follow Laud's poKcv, includ- ™ lth * he 

" Scotch. 

ing the use of the English Prayer Book. The Scotch 
protested and finally raised an army. With the Scotch 
in northern England, Charles now summoned a famous 
Parliament, known in history as the Long Parliament. 

The Long Parliament met in no uncertain temper. It How the 
proceeded to attack Charles' chief advisers and finally }^ ong ^ ar ~ 

r u liament 

beheaded the Earl of Strafford x and later, Archbishop abolished 
Laud. Parliament protected itself against the king. It arbltrar y 

m ' r ° ° government. 

provided for meetings of Parliament at least every three 
years, and the Long Parliament was not to be dissolved 
without its own consent. It abolished the Courts of the 
Star Chamber and High Commission. It declared il- 
legal not only ship money, but tonnage and poundage, 
if the latter were collected without the consent of Par- 
liament. 

In November, 1641, the House of Commons passed, by The grand 
a majority of only nine votes, a Grand Remonstrance, France 
which was a lengthy protest against the misgovernment 
of the king. A few weeks later the king, aroused by the 

1 Parliament first tried to impeach Strafford, or Wentworth, a. former 
leader of the Commons. Then Parliament passed a bill of attainder 
against him and sent him to the block. 



38 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Victories of 
Parliament 
over the 
king. 



Trial and 
death of 
Charles I. 



proposed impeachment of the queen, and hoping to rid 
himself of the leaders of the opposition, marched with his 
soldiers to the House of Commons, intending to arrest 
five objectionable members. The soldiers were left out- 
side, and amid cries of " privilege, privilege/' Charles 
withdrew, remarking, " Well, I see the birds are flown." 
Within a short time the parliamentary and royalist parties 
came to blows. 

31. Civil War. — Southern and eastern England, with 
its towns, prosperous farms, and large estates, supported 

Parliament. Northern and west- 
ern England stood by the king. 
The king's supporters, gentlemen 
in fine dress, their hair in long 
curls, were called " cavaliers." 
Their opponents, with shaven 
heads and simple clothing, were 
known as " roundheads." For 
the disciplined, intensely religious 
roundheads the cavaliers were no 
match. 1 At Marston Moor and 
Nase'by the forces of Parliament 
were completely victorious. 

By 1647, Charles was driven 
to take refuge with the Scotch 
army, which surrendered him to 
Parliament. As the Presby- 
terians in Parliament were likely 
to be too favorable to the king, 
Colonel Pride of the army drove them out, an act known 
as Pride's Purge. The king was tried at once by the 

1 The Puritan army, the "new Model," made up of sincere, earnest 
Puritans who prayed and kept their powder dry, was modeled after a 
regiment of cavalry, the famous "Ironsides" of Oliver Cromwell, "a 
lovely company," as their commander called them, without intentional 
irony. 




A Cavalier 



PURITAN REVOLUTION 



39 



remaining members of this " Rump " Parliament, was 
condemned to death as a " tyrant, traitor, and mur- 
derer," and was beheaded (1649). 

32. The Commonwealth and Protectorate. — England 
was now declared a " Commonwealth." The first need 
of the new government was to establish order, a task which 
was completed by the great Puritan leader, Oliver Crom- 
well, with characteristic thoroughness. Ireland was 
subdued in a campaign of unusual severity (§ 000). A 
new insurrection of Scotchmen, loyal to the House of 
Stuart, who rallied to the 
support of the late king's son, 
" Bonnie Prince Charlie," 
was completely suppressed, 
but Charles escaped from 
England after weeks of 
hiding. 

In 1653, Cromwell in dis- 
gust dissolved the " Rump " 
Parliament. Soon after he 
was made " Lord Protector." 
Although England still had a 
Parliament, Cromwell's was 
the master mind of both 
Commonwealth and Protec- 
torate. This Puritan, a plain man of the plain people, by 
virtue of his honesty, his uprightness, and his thorough- 
ness, stands out as the greatest Englishman in political 
life during the seventeenth century. 

33. The Puritan Commonwealth. — Cromwell's was 
really a military rule, a despotism greater than that of 
Charles I. He made the name of England feared abroad. 
His firmness toward the Dutch, French, and Spanish, 
and his successes in the wars with Holland and Spain, 
made him popular at home. Under him business pros- 




Oliver Cromwell 



Cromweil 
establishes 
order and 
dissolves 
Parlia- 
ment. 



Cromwell as 
Lord Pro- 
tector. 



Popularity 

of 

Cromwell's 

firm rule 

and 

successful 

foreign 

policy. 



40 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Constitu- 
tional rule 
in theory 
and in 
practice. 



The sur- 
vival of 
Cromwell's 
policy- 
after the 
Restora- 
tion (1660). 



Reaction 

against 

"Puritan- 



pered, as was natural, for the opposition to the king had 
been chiefly the opposition of the agricultural and com- 
mercial classes. 

This Puritan Commonwealth was an interesting political 
experiment. In spite of the fact that it was despotic in 
character, it was presumably based on an " Instrument 
of Government," which was a written constitution, the 
first ever used by a large country. The government 
favored liberty of the press, for which Cromwell's secre- 
tary, the great poet, John Milton, had pleaded during 
the Civil War. It tried to establish religious toleration, 
but without great success. The Puritan revolution did 
not fail, although it seemed to fail, since it had stood 
for ideas that very soon made England the first modern 
constitutional monarchy of Europe. 

34. The Restoration (1660) and Reaction. — Cromwell 
died in 1658. Under his son, the Protectorate was a failure. 
All classes desired a return of the Stuarts, and in 1660 
the Restoration occurred, " Bonnie Prince Charlie " be- 
coming king with the title of Charles II. Many of the 
Puritan laws were declared null and void, but others — for 
example, the Navigation Ordinance of 1651 (§ 75), to build 
up the shipping of England at the expense of the Dutch — ■ 
were reenacted to make them legal. In the next war with 
the Dutch, New Netherland became English territory. 

As the Puritans had overdone everything, especially 
by enforcing a " puritanical " Sabbath and by interfer- 
ing with sports and pleasures, there was a reaction from 
simple, severe living. People went to the opposite ex- 
treme, led by the king and the courtiers, who had grown 
accustomed in their exile to the lax moral standards of 
the Continent. Butler's Hu'di-bras, written at this 
time, caricatured the Puritans and all that they stood 
for. The decline of Puritanism was due to ridicule as well 
as new legislation. 



THE RESTORATION 41 

35. The Absolutism of Charles II. — Charles tried to Quarrel 
obtain religious toleration for his Catholic friends, but Charles 1 ]! 
Parliament passed many laws * against Catholics and and Pariia- 
Dissenters. In spite of the new Habeas Corpus Act 2 ^raSm* 
which protected the people against the king's judges, for 
Charles ruled very arbitrarily; he took away the char- Cathollcs - 
ters of London and of Massachusetts Bay colony. 

The first English political parties appeared at this time. The first 
The great nobles and the merchants who opposed the Tori gg an 
king's arbitrary government united as Whigs, a name 
which was applied to them at first in contempt ; while 
the conservatives, the gentry, and the clergy, who upheld 
the king, were known as Tories, from the name given to 
Irish outlaws. We can understand from these names 
that the political parties of that time did not love each 
other any better than do the parties of modern times. 

36. The Absolutism of James II (1685-1688). — How James 
James II was the most narrow and the least able of the his^up-^ 
Stuart kings. In three short years he made enemies of porters and 
almost all his subjects. He appointed in the army, in the natlon - 
the church, and in the universities, Catholics who legally 

could not hold office under a law of Parliament, the Test 
Act, for he maintained that, as king, he had the right to 
suspend such laws as he pleased. 

1 The "Cavalier Parliament" of the Restoration was overwhelmingly 
royalist. Among the laws against Dissenters were the Corporation Act, 
keeping Dissenters from holding office in municipal corporations and to 
some extent in Parliament ; an Act of Uniformity, requiring clergymen 
and teachers to assent to everything in the Book of Common Prayer; 
the Conventicle Act, forbidding Dissenters to hold religious services; 
and the Five Mile Act that did not allow a dissenting minister to come 
near any place where he had been a pastor or within five miles of any 
incorporated town or borough. 

2 In 1679 Parliament passed the Habeas Corpus Act. No person 
accused of crime could be held in prison for years, as Eliot had been, but 
must be brought before a court within twenty days after a writ of Habeas 
Corpus had been issued in his behalf to determine whether there was a 
real case against him. 



42 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



The peti- 
tion and 
trial of the 
seven 
bishops. 



Coming of 
William of 
Orange and 
flight of 
James II. 



Adoption oi 
the Bill of 
Rights 
(1689). 



In 1688, James II issued a Declaration of Indulgence 
by which still further favors were granted to Catholics 
and Dissenters. He gave orders that this declaration 
should be read in all churches. The Dissenters scorned 
privileges which they should have in common with 
Catholics, and seven bishops petitioned the king, asking 
that they should not be forced to read the Declaration. 
They were arrested for libel and tried in Westminster 
Hall. To the amazement of the king and the joy of all 
England, the jury brought in a verdict of " not guilty." 

Constitutional Government in England 

37. The Revolution of 1688. — Just before the trial 
of the bishops a son was born to James II. Hitherto, it 
had been expected that James would be succeeded by his 
Protestant daughter, Mary, who was married to William 
of Orange, the Protestant leader of continental Europe 
against Louis XIV. As James' son would undoubtedly 
be brought up a Catholic, a number of prominent nobles 
united in inviting Mary and William to come to England. 
When William accepted, James was deserted by every 
one, soldiers, courtiers, and advisers. He tried to leave 
England and was captured, but William made escape 
easy, as he did not wish James II to meet the fate of his 
father, Charles I. 

A convention of prominent men, having agreed upon a 
Declaration of Rights, invited William and Mary to 
occupy the vacant throne. In 1689, a regular Parliament 
adopted a somewhat similar Bill of Rights. 1 It must be 

1 The Bill of Rights is a declaration of principles rather than a series 
of laws. It declared what ought to be rather than what is. It declared 
illegal the suspending or dispensing with laws, the raising of revenue 
or the keeping of troops without the consent of Parliament, and the denial 
of the right of petition. It favored free elections to Parliament, free 
speech in Parliament, frequent meetings of Parliament, free trials, and 
lighter fines. It recognized William and Mary as monarchs, to be fol- 
lowed by Anne, another Protestant daughter of James II. 



CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT 43 

remembered that the English constitution does not con- 
sist of a single written law, such as our national Constitu- 
tion, but is made up of a series of important documents, 
statutes, and customs. Of these documents three are 
more important than others, Magna Carta, 1 1215 a.d. ; 
the Petition of Right, 1628 a.d. (§28), and the Bill 'of 
Rights, 1689. 

38. Importance of the Revolution of 1688. — The Thegovern- 
Revolution of 1688 marks the end of royal absolutism ^o" 
in England. Since 1688 the English king has reigned through 
rather than governed ; Parliament has been the real tiQ^^ ent 
governing power. In other words, England in 1688 aban- 1832). 
doned the absolutism which continued on the Continent 

of Europe for at least a century longer and which still 
exists to a large extent in Germany. She became a 
constitutional monarchy, not a democracy. Since that 
time Parliament has governed the country, but Parlia- 
ment, in turn, was controlled for a century and ajhalf^by 
the English aristocracy, usually the Whig aristocracy. 
The members of the House of Lords were aristocrats, and 
they controlled the election of members of the House of 
Commons most of the time until the Reform Act of 1832. 

39. Influence of the Revolution of 1688 on Individual Civil lib- 
Liberty. — The Revolution of 1688 had an important ertybutnot 

^ political 

effect upon individual liberty in England. It has been liberty 
the boast of Englishmen that the English needed only to ^ ed in 
retain liberty, whereas other peoples were obliged to 
acquire it after a long struggle ; yet during the seventeenth 
century the average Englishman was not free in the 
twentieth century sense. He did not have the right to 
vote, nor did he acquire that privilege until comparatively 
recent years ; but, through the Revolution of 1688, he 
did obtain many personal or civil rights which he had not 
enjoyed before. 

i E. E. c, § 590. 



44 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Civil rights 
that were 
granted to 
English- 
men only. 



Parliamen- 
tary control 
of succes- 
sion to the 
throne and 
its own 
elections. 



He obtained the right of petition, the right of free 
speech, and the right of free press. Religious toleration 
was granted to all Protestants. The privileges of jury 
trial and the writ of Habeas Corpus were of real value 
after 1688, since the king no longer interfered with the 
judges and the courts. 1 

40. The Supremacy of Parliament. — The most im- 
portant result of the Revolution of 1688, namely, the 
supremacy of Parliament over the king, was shown in 




The Old Parliament House 

several ways and in several laws. First of all, Parlia- 
ment destroyed the doctrine of " divine right " by de- 
ciding in 1689, and again in 1701, who should occupy the 
throne of England. Parliament provided for new elec- 
tions of members at least every three years ; now elections 

1 Strangely enough, these rights were not granted to Scotchmen or 
Irishmen, nor were they given to American colonists, with the exception 
of religious toleration to Protestants ; but the fact that these rights there- 
after were "rights of Englishmen," and that the American colonists had 
a good English precedent which they were not slow to follow, is of im- 
portance in the constitutional development of America as well as of 
England. 



CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT 45 

may be five years apart. Judges were to hold office dur- 
ing good behavior, unless removed by Parliament. 

Parliament not only controlled the raising of revenue, Complete 
but it decided the purposes for which that money should ^ n ^° l by 
be spent. Before 1688, the kings had used as they pleased of both 
the money raised by themselves or appropriated for them sword and 
by Parliament. Since the Revolution, money for their 
use has been granted in a Civil List which specifies the 
objects for which expenditures shall be made. By the 
Mutiny Act the king could keep troops only one year 
without the full support of Parliament. With the con- 
trol of both the purse and the sword, Parliament was 
unquestionably supreme over the king. It later de- 
veloped the cabinet system of government (§§ 42, 000) 
as a means of ruling the kingdom. 

41. The Last Stuart Reigns. — William of Orange had William 
been for years (§ 58) the leader of the Protestant coalition an ^ ^ nne 
against the aggressions of Louis XIV along the Rhine, ministers. 
He was tactless and preferred Dutch ways and councils 
to Englishmen and English methods. William III was 
not in favor of constitutional government, but he found 
that by selecting ministers who were acceptable to 
the majority of the members of the House of Com- 
mons, he could rule better, and get more of the things 
that he wanted. Anne was still more careful to select 
ministers who were in favor with Parliament. 1 By the 
act of succession in 1701, Anne, sister of Mary, was 
designated to succeed William, and at her death, if she 
left no heirs, the throne was to pass to Sophia, the Elec- 
tress of Hanover, and granddaughter of James I, or her 
heirs. 1 

1 In 1707, Queen Anne vetoed a bill. Since that time the veto has 
not been exercised by the English sovereign because the monarch chooses 
his ministers from the party which has the majority in the House of 
Commons and accepts any legislation which they consider wise. 



46 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



England 
and Scot- 
land. 



Develop- 
ment under 
the minis- 
tries of Sir 
Robert 
Walpole. 



The reigns of William III and of Anne were marked by 
the foreign wars ending in the treaties of Rys'wick and 
U'trecht (§ 59), and by several important constitutional 
changes in addition to the beginning of the cabinet just 
noted. In 1707 England and Scotland were really 
united in the United Kingdom of Great Britain. The 
Scotch people vigorously opposed for many years this 
union in which their national identity seemed to be lost, 
but the union brought to Scotland numerous gains. A 
stimulus was given to trade, as Scotch manufactures could 
now be marketed profitably in the English market, and 
Scotch ships were included under the Navigation Law of 
1660. Not the least of the gains was the abolition of 
the Scotch Parliament, which had grown in previous 
years into an exceedingly unrepresentative and corrupt 
body of nobles. Scotland was fairly well represented in 
both the House of Lords and the House of Commons ; 
Parliament therefore ceased to be English and became 
British. 

42. Development of Cabinet Government. — George 
I and George II were mature men before the death of 
Anne brought the House of Hanover to the English 
throne. 1 In consequence, they remained German so 
long as they lived, George I not even troubling himself 
to learn the English language. Since they had been made 
English kings by the Whig party, they put their trust 
absolutely in the Whig leaders. The most important 
of these was the prime minister from 1721 to 1742, Sir 
Robert Walpole. When Walpole came into power, the 
cabinet system of English government was incompletely 
organized. During his rule that system was further 



i George I ruled from 1714 to 1727, George II from 1722 to 1760, and 
George III ( § 000) from 1760 to 1820. The ablest ministers of these men 
were Walpole, the Earl of Chat'ham (William Pitt, the elder), and 
William Pitt the younger (§ 000). 



CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT 



47 



developed, since Walpole selected his own ministers and 
dominated the policy of the cabinet and ministry. Al- 
though the ministry was then, as it is to-day, nominally 
made up of the king's advisers, Walpole selected his col- 
leagues from those who enjoyed the support and sympa- 
thy of the House of Commons. When the cabinet as a 
whole lost that sup- 
port, the ministry 
resigned. 

It must not be 
supposed, that be- 
cause the House 
of Commons was 
the more popular 
branch of the Eng- 
lish Parliament, 
and because the 
ministry ivas chiefly 
responsible to the 
House of Commons, 
that it represented 
the English nation, 
for it did not until 
long after this time 
(§000). In the first 
place, only a few 
privileged persons were allowed to vote, and secondly, the 
boroughs which returned men to Parliament were in some 
cases old towns which had lost most of their inhabitants. 
Many of these boroughs, moreover, were controlled by 
some lord or noble who owned most or all of the land in 
the vicinity. Finally, the nobles who supported Walpole 
were kept subject to the prime minister by gifts of offices, 
pensions, and numerous other forms of bribery. So promi- 
nent, in fact, was this political corruption of members of 




Sir Robert Walpole 



Unrepre- 
sentative 
and corrupt 
government 
before 1760. 



48 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



How the 

government 
tried to 
help busi- 
ness. 



Banking, 
new uses of 
credit, and 
speculation. 



Parliament by Walpole, and later by George III, that the 
members of our constitutional convention in 1787 spent 
a quarter of their time discussing ways and means of 
keeping the executive department from corrupting the 
legislature and the legislature in turn from dominating 
the executive. 

43. Business and Finance. — Since the Whig aris- 
tocracy included many large landowners and important 
merchants of England, business was encouraged by the 
government during most of this period. We shall note 
(§§ 83-87) some of the measures taken against the French 
in connection with trade, particularly in the West Indies. 
In order to help English manufacturing, export duties 
were removed from (136) manufactured articles, and 
import duties were abolished for a large number of raw 
materials. In order to discourage smuggling, Walpole 
attempted to levy an internal tax upon the consumption 
of liquors, in place of an import duty upon liquors brought 
into the country ; but he was forced to repeal this measure 
because excise taxes were as unpopular as smuggling was 
popular. Walpole did succeed, however, in reorganizing 
the finances and in keeping down expenses by avoiding 
foreign wars. 

In 1694, the Bank of England was established. This 
gave the country a stable paper currency and showed 
the advantages of using credit in the development of 
business. Unfortunately, the abuse of credit led to many 
get-rich-quick schemes. 1 The mania for speculation was 



1 At this time, it was thought that immense fortunes could be made in 
colonization schemes. Consequently companies were formed for the 
purpose of exploiting the commerce of distant lands. The most impor- 
tant of these schemes was that tried by the Da-ri-en' Company, which 
sought to make money by establishing a commercial colony on the 
Isthmus of Darien, or Panama, near the location of our present canal. 
Another adventure far more ambitious was that of the South Sea Com- 
pany. 



ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS 49 

so absurd that enormous sums were paid for the stock of 
the South Sea Company, which was expecting to estab- 
lish colonies, mine precious metals, and make fortunes. 
In fact, it never did any real business. When people 
realized that these ventures were purely speculative, the 
South Sea bubble burst, many fortunes were lost, and 
few were made except by the promoters. 

The commercial wars of the eighteenth century were Commercial 
the direct outgrowth of the attempt to use government gj^eenth 6 
influence to develop colonies, manufacturing, and trade, century. 
The story of the commercial rivalry, first, between Eng- 
land and Holland, and afterwards between England and 
France, is told in Chapter IV. 

Social Conditions in England, Early Eighteenth 
Century 

44. London. — About one tenth of all the people of Expansion 
England resided in London, although there was no other ^Hah 
town in the country which contained 30,000 inhabitants, capital. 
London was an important seaport, the quays near the 
Tower being thronged with vessels from every quarter 
of the globe. Since the Middle Ages, the city had grown 
considerably to the north and west, so that Westminster, 
which in the days of the Edwards was a long way beyond 
the walls, was well within the city limits in the reign of 
Queen Anne. The palace of the Queen, since the days 
of Henry VIII the town residence of the English mon- 
arch, was at St. James, which was beyond Westminster ; 
to-day St. James is in the heart of London. There was 
still but one bridge across the Thames, known as the 
London bridge. 

In the time of Queen Anne, the streets of London were London 
not much better than they had been in the Feudal Age. street3 - 
They were unpaved and not very broad. A row of 
posts separated the equally unpaved sidewalk from the 



50 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Use of 
the coffee 
house. 



Some 
famous 
coffee 
houses. 



dust or mud of the highway. 1 Ladies naturally were 
allowed the inside of the sidewalk because of the : danger 
to dress from the mud of the streets or dripping water 
from spouts which extended from the roofs of shops 
out towards the gutters. In case of showers, however, 
every one hastened for shelter, for only those callous to 
ridicule carried the umbrellas which had come into use 
a few years before. At night, the streets were almost as 
unsafe 2 as they had been in the Middle Ages. 

45. The Coffee Houses in Addison's Time. — Attired 
in the elaborate costume of the young dandy, the society 
man of Queen Anne's day repaired at his leisure 3 to one 
of the coffee houses, of which there were from two to 
three thousand in London. One gained entrance by the 
payment of one penny (Id.). Coffee was served for 
Id. or l±d. per cup. Here society men met their friends 
and discussed the latest gossip ; here amateur politicians 
aired their views to all who would listen and debated the 
latest news from France, or from the army in Germany ; 
here such writers as Addison, Steele, and their friends, or, 
later, Dr. Johnson, enjoyed the society of other litterateurs. 

The coffee houses of Addison's time have been much 
advertised in literature. At Button's, the open mouth 
of a lion's head was used by Addison and his associates 
as a post office for the exchange of letters ; Child's in 



1 When coaches were driven recklessly, as they frequently were, 
through the heaps of refuse and puddles of the thoroughfare, the passersby 
fought for the inner side of the sidewalk. In the phrase of the day, 
everyone wanted to "take the wall," for the walled gardens frequently 
faced the street. In the reign of the first Georges, it became a law and a 
rule for the person on the right to have "right of way." 

2 E. E. C, § 553. 

3 The day of the social favorite did not begin very early, since he was 
not often home before midnight. Before noon, he and his wife might 
entertain their friends in their chamber, the wife having breakfasted 
but not yet risen. Dinner, which had been at two before the Revolution 
of 1688, became later and later, first three and then four. 



SOCIAL CONDITIONS 51 

St. Paul's Churchyard was famous as the resort of doc- 
tors, ministers, and other scholars ; on the Strand was the 
Turk's Head Coffee House frequented by Dr. Johnson. 
St. James was even more celebrated, and was later pat- 
ronized by Goldsmith, and Burke, among others. 1 

46. Newspapers and the Post. — When freedom of the Newspapers 
press was established by the Revolution of 1688, a great pamphlets 
impetus was given to the publication of pamphlets. The after the 
first English newspaper, The Daily Courant, was started f e i6 8 g tlon 
the week that Anne was crowned (1702). Most of the 
papers, however, were printed but three times a week. 
They were tiny affairs, about the size of a lady's handker- 
chief, and frequently were printed on one side only. Some 
of them sold for a half penny or a farthing a copy. All 
contained far more scandal than news, so that the govern- 
ment in 1712 placed a stamp tax on all newspapers. 
This ruined some of the papers but did not stop the 
evils. 

Under the later Stuarts, the government had given some Private 
attention to the carrying of the mails, but the posts were and p^ 1ic 
irregular and expensive. During the reign of Charles II, 
a private organization established a penny post. If a 
letter, or package under a pound in weight, was sent by 
a person in London to another in that city, the sender 
paid a penny postage. If the letter or package went out- 
side the city, the receiver paid an additional penny. Later 
the government stopped the penny post and established 
uniform rates of 3c?. for a single sheet sent eighty miles 

1 Some of the coffee houses were business places, where coffee was sold. 
Jonathan's devoted itself to stock jobbing. At Lloyd's in Lombard 
street, the Wall street of London, one could take out marine insurance 
and learn the latest news regarding the arrival or sailing of vessels. 
Lloyd's is no longer in Lombard street, but the company will now insure 
anything and everything insurable. Even Lloyd's, however, drew the 
line at London plate-glass windows during the suffragette outbreaks a 
few years ago. Of the five chocolate houses in London, one, White's, 
was particularly famous, making a specialty of gambling. 



52 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Artificial 
nature of 
the litera- 
ture of the 
period. 



Some 

prominent 

writers. 



Beginnings 
of the 
English 
Novel. 



or less, M. for one sent in England for a longer distance, 
and Qd. for a single sheet to the colonies. 

47. The Augustan Age of English Literature. — The 
period following the Restoration was noted for its litera- 
ture as well as its newspapers. Very properly it is 
called the Augustan Age, because, as in the days of 
Augustus, the monarch and those high in esteem at court 
helped authors and patronized literature. Unlike the 
Elizabethan Age, this period produced no original writers 
or thinkers. The poets and essayists of Queen Anne's 
time devoted their attention less to thought than to style. 
Like the elegant courtiers of the day, they were con- 
cerned chiefly with manners ; not with ideas but with their 
expression. 

Alexander Pope expresses best the ideals of his time. 
His style, like that of John Dryden, a poet of the time of 
Charles II, is highly artificial, but his balanced couplets 
have charm and awaken in the hearer admiration for the 
way in which the thoughts are expressed. Joseph Ad- 
dison is at his best as an essayist, especially in that mirror 
of the times, The Spectator, which was published daily. 
Jonathan Swift excels in satire, to which a life of mis- 
fortune lent bitterness. 1 

Somewhat later than this group of writers appeared 
the first English novelists. Defoe's Robinson Crusoe 
(1719) may be said to be the earliest English novel, but 



1 Dr. Samuel Johnson is remembered best by his great dictionary of 
the English language. After 1715 the government had ceased to aid 
literature, as both George I and his minister, Walpole, had little interest 
in letters. Many wealthy men, however, continued to patronize authors 
to some extent. Dr. Johnson, after struggling several years without 
help, found that his patron, Lord Chesterfield, whose manners have ever 
since been considered ideal, was willing to aid him as soon as the publica- 
tion of the Dictionary was assured. Naturally Johnson was indignant 
and wrote, asking if a patron was not like a person who stands on a bank 
watching a man struggling in the water and when he reaches the shore 
encumbers him with his help. 



SOCIAL CONDITIONS 



53 



the development of fiction was the work of Samuel Rich- 
ardson and Henry Fielding. 

48. Travel and Country Estates. — English roads in Poor 
the early eighteenth century were very bad. Many of Qf^ tlon 
them were almost impassable on account of mud in the English 
spring and dust in the summer. Turnpikes were coming roads - 
into use between important towns, but usually they were 
little better than the older parish roads. One royal 




The Quadrangle, Somerset House (Eighteenth Century) 



prince, on a visit to England, spent six hours traveling 
nine miles ; on another stage of his journey he sat almost 
all day in his stalled coach. 

As the more traveled highways were improved, regular Beginnings 
coach service was established. Near London, possibly ofre g mar 
the trips were daily, but more often they were twice or service, 
three times a week. On most roads there were inns, 
which were usually clean and well kept. The lower floor 
consisted, as a rule, of only two rooms, a parlor and a 
kitchen. 1 

1 After Queen Anne went to Bath early in her reign, that became the 
favorite social health resort. Under the strict rule of Beau Nash, Bath 



54 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



New 
squires 
and old. 



The food 
of the 
common 
people. 



Lack of 
refinement- 



Besides the old-fashioned squire mentioned in section 9, 
there was another type of squire with whom we are much 
better acquainted through the pages of The Spectator, 
and who is typified by Addison's Sir Roger de Coverley. 
Sir Roger is, like the English squire of to-day, a care- 
ful landlord, a justice in the local court, a man ac- 
customed to travel, spending a few weeks in season 
in London, and possibly attending the horse races at 
Ascot Park. 

49. Food, Manners, and Pastimes. — The standard of 
living in England had been improved somewhat since the 
days of Elizabeth. Few new foods had been introduced 
and there had not been many improvements in agricul- 
ture, yet in the middle of the eighteenth century one writer 
reports that half the people ate wheat bread, the rest 
still being content with cakes of barley, rye, or oats. 
This is the more remarkable because the price of wheat 
then was about the same as it was before the Great 
War, although wages were less than one third what they 
are to-day. Meat was relatively cheaper than wheat, 
as it could be purchased for from five cents to fifteen cents 
a pound. In Ireland meat was less than two cents per 
pound. The English housewives and cooks did not know 
how to make good use of materials. Soups were almost 
unknown, and complaint was made that a Dutch family 
lived in comparative comfort on nine shillings ($2.17) a 
week, whereas an English family had less on a weekly in- 
come of twenty shillings ($4.86). 

Manners at table and elsewhere were unrefined. One 
book of etiquette stated that well-bred people did not 
wipe their knives and forks on bread or the table-cloth, 



prospered, the manners of the people improved, and the nobility was 
properly entertained. Tunbridge Wells and'HEpsom attracted some 
visitors. Those who could afford to do so and were interested in travel 
took the "grand tour" through the Continent of Europe. 



SOCIAL CONDITIONS 



55 



but on their napkins. Readers were urged not to pick 
their teeth at table with a knife or fork. 1 

The theaters were favorite places of amusement, the 
plays often being exceedingly coarse. Lotteries were 
common, and gambling was sport practiced by every 
gentleman. London had its Vauxhall for celebrations 
and fairs, which were copied in every provincial town. 
The stately minuet was given 
by people of standing, but the 
commoner folk found more en- 
joyment in the reel and the 
country dance. In later dec- 
ades, foreign fashions and 
dances were imported by the 
dandies known as " maca- 
ronis," a name which " Yankee 
Doodle" shows was used also 
in America. 

50. Intemperance. — The 
early eighteenth century was 
notorious for its intemperance. 

In all earlier ages, the people] hadJMrunk immense quan- 
tities of beer and ale, but often this had been but half 
fermented and was therefore almost as much a food as a 
liquor. From the Dutch and other people of the Conti- 
nent, the English had acquired a taste for stronger liquor. 
At this time, one third of the cultivated land of England 
was planted to barley, chiefly used in making malt drinks. 
The total consumption was about two and one half barrels 
per capita. As the children probably consumed less 
than their share, the average for each adult must have 
been at least three barrels. 

One of the important disputes connected with the Hun- 
dred Years' War 2 had been the trade in Bordeaux (Bor-do') 

Cf. with E. E. C, § 717. 2 E. E. C, § 601. 




Caricature of a Macaroni 



Dances and 
places of 
amusement. 



Increase 
in drunken- 
ness. 



56 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Substitu- 
tion of 
port for 
Bordeaux. 



The curse 
of gin 
drinking., 



Periods of 

religious 

enthusiasm. 

Different 

Protestant 



wines between the Ga-ronne' valley and England. This 
traffic had continued with some interruptions but with 
comparatively light taxes until the War of the Spanish 
Succession (§ 59), when England placed prohibitive duties 
on Bordeaux wine. Thereafter, French wines were 
likely to be made " under the sidewalks of London." 
When the trade in French wines was stopped, that with 
Portugal increased, as Portugal and England were allies 
against France. For patriotic and other reasons, wealthy 
Englishmen began to consume large quantities of 
port. 

At this time, gin drinking developed into a national 
habit in the British Isles, and continued so until the 
outbreak of the Great War. As Lecky says, " Small as 
is the place which this fact occupies in English history, 
it was probably, if we consider all the consequences that 
have flowed from it, the most momentous in that of the 
eighteenth century — incomparably more than any 
event in the purely political or military annals of the 
country." l 

51. Religious Conditions in the Early Eighteenth 
Century. — We have already noted some of the moral 
conditions of this age. As we look back over the period 
from the beginning of the sixteenth century, we note that 
there seem to have been times of religious enthusiasm 
followed by times of reaction. This is particularly true 
of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In the 
sixteenth century the English Dissenters were not nu- 
merous, but in the early seventeenth century their numbers 
increased greatly, and they formed many sects. Besides 
the Presbyterians and Congregationalists (Independents) 
(§ 26), there were some Universalists and Unitarians. 
Just before the Civil War (§ 31) English Baptists began 
to organize churches ; Roger Williams founded a Baptist 

1 Lecky, England in the XVIII Century, I, 519. 



RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS 57 

communit} 7 in Rhode Island at the same time. 1 A few 
years later, George Fox established the Society of 
Friends, popularly known as Quakers. They were sin- 
cere believers in the importance of conscience and the 
equality of all persons. Many Quakers came to the 
middle colonies, especially after William Penn founded 
Penns3 T lvania. 

The moral standards of the decade preceding the Puritan 
Restoration were not so much those of the English people and C the SS 
as the3 r were the standards of the Puritan faction in con- reaction 
trol of the government. Exceedingly strict observance againstlt - 
of the Sabbath, excessive piety, and the prohibition of 
sports were characteristic of Puritan rule under the Com- 
monwealth. Under the later Stuarts, there was a decided 
reaction against Puritanism and all its works, although 
the English nation did not go to the extreme affected 
by the court and many nobles. 

With the advent of the eighteenth century, there was a Irreiigion 
greater rebellion against Puritanism. People considered ^ in ~ 
religion as a more practical subject than formerly and in in the early 
time grew indifferent. With the coarseness of the tastes ei ^ teentn 

& .... century. 

and amusements of the time, this practical view of re- 
ligion soon degenerated into positive irreiigion and 
various forms of immorality. Particularly was this true 
in the mining, manufacturing, and seacoast towns where 
the Dissenters had comparatively little influence and 
the established church was losing all real hold on the 
people. This condition of the Church of England was 
due largely to the fact that many young sons of the no- 
bility went into the church even if they cared nothing 
for religion, and appointments of clergymen were made 
with little regard for religious qualifications. Parsons 

1 The Baptists^believed in religious toleration, and, in the case of Wil- 
liams, in religious liberty. They insisted on immersion as the only correct 
form of baptism. 



58 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Work of 

Wesley and 

Whitefield 

among 

miners, 

fishermen, 

and others. 



Organiza- 
tion of a 
Methodist 
church. 



The early- 
Stuarts and 
Parliament 
(1603- 
1629). 



were selected because they were good fellows rather than 
because they were good clergymen. 

52. The Rise of Methodism. — The times were ripe 
for a new religious movement, when, about 1730, a group 
of earnest and pious young college men, nicknamed by 
their fellows the Methodists, set for themselves higher 
ideals of living and thinking. By a strong emotional 
appeal to the hearts of their hearers, by preaching a 
gospel of deeper faith and better living, they gained in 
the worst communities a strong hold on the people, es- 
pecially of the poorer class in seacoast and mining towns. 
The leader of this movement was a man of great or- 
ganizing ability, John Wesley. Repeatedly, Wesley's 
life was endangered by the mobs which tried to prevent 
his preaching. With rare courage and real skill, he es- 
caped the vengeance of the mob, and by his sincerity he 
made many friends. He was ably assisted by a famous 
orator, George Whitefield, who swayed large audiences. 

Wesley and Whitefield quickly lost the sympathy of the 
established clergy, who disapproved of the informality 
of their services and of the methods which they used for 
making converts. In time Wesley was refused the right 
to preach in regular Anglican chapels. Eventually 
Methodism was established as a separate religious body ; 
it erected church buildings and attracted to its member- 
ship a different class from that to which originally it 
made its strongest appeal. 

53. Summary. — When Elizabeth died, James of Scot- 
land became the first Stuart king (1603-1625). He tried 
to rule by " divine right," opposing the suggestions of 
the Puritans for simpler church services and refusing 
concessions fto Parliament except in exchange for sup- 
plies. Charles I (1625-1649) was more attractive than 
his father but no more wise in dealing with Parliament. 
In 1628 Parliament forced Charles to sign the Petition of 



ENGLAND (1603-1760) 59 

Right which restricted his rights as king. Charles 
managed without Parliament for eleven years, establish- 
ing a uniform high church, levying taxes under the guise 
of ship money, and trying to force the English church 
service on the Scotch. This policy caused, first, the 
great migration to New England, and, later, the opposition 
of Parliament to the king. 

In the Long Parliament, the ministers and methods of The Puritan 
Charles were attacked. In 1642 the Civil War began, in f n e J° h u e tion 
which the roundheads were completely victorious over the Restoration, 
cavaliers. Charles was beheaded as a traitor, and a 
Commonwealth was declared. Under the Commonwealth 
and the Protectorate, Cromwell ruled strictly but wisely. 
In 1660 the Restoration occurred. Charles II (1660- 
1685) became king, and most of the Puritan laws were re- 
pealed. Charles tried to rule absolutely. James II 
(1685-1688) suspended the laws, adopted other absolute 
methods, and was very unpopular. 

When a son was born who would be brought up a Catho- Constitu- 
lic, James was forced by the commercial aristocracy and tlonal sov- 

' u ^ eminent. 

William of Orange to flee from England. The results of 
this Revolution of 1688 were to make Parliament supreme 
over the king and to give individuals certain liberties, as 
speedy trials, freedom of speech, a free press, and religious 
toleration for all Protestants. New laws provided for 
the succession to the throne, assured frequent meetings 
of Parliament, and Parliamentary control of taxation, the 
army, and other subjects. Still later the House of Com- 
mons gained the right to control ministers, or the cabinet. 
After the Revolution of 1688, Protestant Stuart mon- 
archs ruled England until 1715. In 1707 the personal 
union of England and Scotland was changed into a 
United Kingdom of Great Britain. In 1715 George of 
Hanover became king. Under him and his son, George 
II, the cabinet system of government already started de- 



moral con- 
ditions 



60 MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 

veloped rapidly, especially during the ministries of Wal- 
pole, who kept in power partly by bribery in elections and 
by giving offices to members of Parliament. The era 
from the Revolution of 1688 to the American Revolu- 
tionary War was one of considerable prosperity. New 
banking and credit methods were introduced, and naturally 
speculation was rife. English business and foreign com- 
merce developed rapidly. 
Social and England two centuries ago was much more crude than 

it is to-day. There were no cities beside London larger 
than 30,000. Streets were badly paved and lighted ; 
country roads were poor. Intemperance was the rule; 
irreligion a natural reaction against Puritanism. At this 
time Methodism started, its leaders working especially 
among the poor and the degraded. 

[General References 

Coman and Kendall, History of England, 285-390. 
Cheyney, Short History of England, 383-558. 
Cheyney, Readings in English History, 418-590. 
Lee, Source Book of English History, 333-455. 
Kendall, Source Book of English History, 209-320. 
Gardiner, The Puritan Revolution. 

Beard (ed.), Introduction to the English Historians, 331-491. 
Gardiner, Student's History of England, 481-701. 
Terry, History of England, 618-860. 

Cross, History of England and Greater Britain, 427-675. 
Smith, The United Kingdom, I, 404-650; II, 1-153, 460-734. 
Taswell-Langmead, English Constitutional History, 385-539, 
587-604. 

Ashton, Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne. 
Roseoe, The English Scene in the Eighteenth Century. 
Sydney, England and the English in the Eighteenth Century. 

Topics 

Cromwell : Gardiner. The Puritan Revolution, 161-191 ; 
Harrison, Oliver Cromwell, especially, 133-134, 174-190; Gardi- 
ner, Cromwell's Place in History. 



ENGLAND (1603-1760) 61 

Individual Rights after 1688; Montague, Elements of Eng- 
lish Constitutional History, 150-152; Medley, Manual of English 
Constitutional History, 434-461, 470-479 ; Taswell-Langmead, 
English Constitutional History, 587-604. 

Coffee Houses in Addison's Time : Boynton, London in 
English Literature, 130-138; Ashton, Social Life in the Reign of 
Queen Anne, 161-179; Timbs, Clubs and Club Life in London, 
297-305 ; Roscoe, The English Scene in the Eighteenth Century, 
34-41. 

The Cabinet : Montague, Elements of English Constitutional 
History, 163-173 ; Macy, English Constitution, 338-370 ; Medley, 
English Constitutional History, 112-120; Taswell-Langmead, 
English Constitutional History, 526-539. 



Studies 

1. The Hampton Court Conference. Kendall, Source Book 
of English History, 209-211. 

2. Grievances under James I. Cross, History of England and 
Greater Britain, 437-442. 

3. Petition of Right. Hill, Liberty Documents, 66-77. 

4. The Parliamentary crisis of 1629. Beard (ed.), Intro- 
duction to the English Historians, 347-354. 

5. Religious controversy under Charles I. Macy, English 
Constitution, 274-282. 

6. The trial of Strafford. Cheyney, Readings in English 
History, 467-472. 

7. The art of war during the early seventeenth century. 
TraiU and Mann (eds.), Social England, IV, 313-333. 

8. Trial and execution of the king. Cheyney, Readings in 
English History, 485-491. 

9. The great fire in London, 1666. Kendall, Source Book of 
English History, 270-274. 

10. Church and State after the Restoration. Traill and 
Mann (eds.), Social England, IV, 483-488. 

11. The Revolution of 1688. Cheyney, Short History of Eng- 
land, 500-513. 

12. Taxes and finance after the Revolution of 1688. Traill 
and Mann (eds.), Social England, V, 156-173. 

13. Walpole and his system. Beard (ed.), Introduction to the 
English Historians, 466-477. 



62 MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 

14. The Streets of London. Sydney, England and the English 
in the XVIII Century, 9-23. 

15. John Wesley and Methodism. Beard (ed.), Introduction 
to the English Historians, 478-491. 

Questions 

1. What was meant by the "divine right" of a king to rule? 
Why did Parliament object to it? How did the doctrine of 
divine right affect the making of laws? the enforcement of 
laws ? the collection of revenue ? 

2. Trace the rise of the Puritans. Show the differences 
between the different parties. What do we in America owe 
to Puritanism? 

3. Give provisions of the Petition of Right. How did 
Charles raise revenue: before 1628; after 1628? Show how 
Laud's church policy, ship money, and proposed church changes 
in Scotland brought on a rebellion. Why was New England 
settled after 1629 and not at some other time? 

4. What was the Long Parliament? What did it do? 
Describe Puritan rule under the Commonwealth and the Pro- 
tectorate. 

5. Why is the Restoration (1660) important in English 
history? Show how the government after 1660 changed its 
colonial policy, how it reflected the wishes of the people more 
than before, and how it did more for the commercial classes. 

6. State the causes of the Revolution of 1688, the chief 
events, and the two general results. 

7. Name and discuss at least three ways in which Parliament 
was supreme over the king after 1688 ; three respects in which 
people had more rights. 

8. In the period before 1685 trace briefly the growth of 
Parliament. Notice what powers were gained by it as a result 
of the Revolution of 1688. Show why and how cabinet govern- 
ment was developed in England to a large extent before 1760. 

9. What is a commercial bank like? Why does it help a 
government administer its finances, and how does it help busi- 
ness? If credit is so valuable, why were the South Sea Bubble 
and other radical credit schemes disastrous? Do the commer- 
cial wars between England and Holland and England and France 
prove that the English people rather than the government were 
interested in extending English business and trade? 



ENGLAND (1603-1760) 63 

10. Write an account of an imaginary visit to London in 
the age of Queen Anne. (Include something on travel, inns, 
and food, as well as something on the streets, buildings, and coffee 
houses of the city.) 

11. Compare the size of eighteenth century newspapers 
and the rates for i ending newspapers or letters by post, with 
modern American newspapers and corresponding postal rates 
of the present time. Name at least three writers of that day; 
give a title of some book or poem of each, and describe at least 
one piece of literature. 

12. Give somg idea of intemperance in England two cen- 
turies ago, taking into account the difference between distilled 
spirits, wines, and fermented liquors. 

13. What Protestant sects developed in the sixteenth cen- 
tury ; which in the seventeenth and which later? Give some 
reasons for the lack of piety in the century following the Puritan 
Revolution in England. To what extent did Wesley and the 
early Methodists meet a real need? 



CHAPTER III 



ABSOLUTISM ON THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE 



The Age of Louis XIV 



Long but 
unprofitable 
reign of 
Louis XIV. 



Ambitions 
and policy 
of Louis 
XIV. 



Importance 
of Louis 
XIV's 
court. 



54. General Character of Louis' Reign. — A year after 
the death of Richelieu, Louis XIV, a lad of five years, 
became king of France. His reign of nearly three quarters 
of a century (1643-1715) is famous in the annals of courts 
and of wars. It will always stand as the most perfect 
type of absolutism ; " but despite all its real and not in- 
considerable success the reign was, in the larger sight 
of history, a reign of deceiving ambitions and profound 
failure." 1 

During the boyhood of the king, the real ruler of 
France was the Italian, Maz-a-rin' ', a cardinal who tried to 
carry out the policies of Richelieu. With the death of 
Mazarin, Louis became king in fact. The character of 
his rule is indicated in that often-quoted phrase, which 
Louis himself probably never used, " I am the State." 
To govern absolutely, to enlarge the boundaries of France, 
to be the center of the most distinguished court in Europe, 
to be the most prominent figure in world politics — these 
were the ambitions of Louis XIV. 

55. Extravagance of Louis' Court. — Louis spent vast 
sums on his court. He erected at Ver-sailles' a magnificent 
new palace which cost more than a hundred million dollars. 
This was the first truly royal palace of the French kings. 
To Louis 1 court at Versailles flocked all of the nobles of France. 

1 Adams, GrowthTof the French Nation, p. 00. 
64 



AGE OF LOUIS XIV 



65 



The highest honor which a man of good birth could obtain 
was a position at court, for no burgher, however success- 
ful, was allowed a share in the festivities at Versailles. 
There was no disgrace so keen for a prominent noble as 
exclusion from the presence of the king. To accept Louis' 
favor at Versailles meant that the noble had absolutely 
surrendered not only his rights to rule as a feudal lord 




General View, Palace of Versailles 



but his right to think for himself and to criticize the king. 
By this means Louis " imposed on the high nobility a 
gilded captivity." Political feudalism could make no 
stand against an absolutism supported by such prestige 
and splendor. 

This court was copied by all other ambitious mon- 
archs. French became the language of diplomats. French 
methods of dress and of palace decoration, French cere- 
monials, and French literature became the fashion. Louis 
XIV's international as well as national preeminence was, 
in a real sense, that of an autocratic social leader. 

56. Colbert. — The genius of Col-bert', an expert 
financier and economist, was taxed to pay for the ex- 
travagances of the court and the heavy expenses of Louis' 
wars. He doubled the revenues of the king without add- 
ing to the taxes paid by the people. Colbert, however, 



Influence of 
the French 
court and 
methods 
abroad. 



Financial 
reforms 2 
paternal- 
ism of 
Colbert. 



66 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Objections 
to paternal- 
ism in 
France 
under 
Louis XIV. 



The loss to 

France of 

many 

skilled 

Huguenot 

workers. 



was more than a minister of finance ; he was the foremost 
advocate of mercantilism. 1 Being anxious to build up the 
manufactures of France, he created a series of protective 
tariffs which practically excluded from France all foreign 

manufactured articles 
that competed with 
French manufactures. 
By this protection Col- 
bert built up many 
new industries, such as 
silk spinning and weav- 
ing. He also secured 
laws which regulated 
the making of many 
articles. 2 

Such a system is 
called paternalism, for 
it looks after the people 
with the care that a 
father might show. So 
much supervision might 
have been helpful, if 
the old rules of the trade gilds had not still been in force 
in France, and if trade had not been restricted by the 
medieval systems of tolls. What France needed was more 
freedom rather than more regulation. 

57. Economic Effects of Revoking the Edict of Nantes 
(1685). — Soon after the death of Colbert, Louis XIV, 
influenced no doubt by his favorite, Madame de Mainte- 
non, began to persecute the Huguenots. In the homes 

i E. E. c, § 727. 

2 Colbert succeeded in lowering the price of wheat to consumers, 
but that caused many farmers to raise other crops. Under him manu- 
factures, which formerly had been mere imitations of Italian or Flemish 
goods, became superior to the originals. Chief among these were laces, 
tapestries, gold-embroidered^cloths, carpets,"'porcelains, and fine glass. 




Colbert 



AGE OF LOUIS XIV 



67 



of those that refused to renounce their religion were quar- 
tered dragoons, who were allowed many excesses. In 
1685 he revoked the Edict of Nantes, by which religious 
toleration had been granted to the Huguenots by Henry 
IV, the first Bour'bon king of France. The Huguenots, 
hard-working, industrious, and prosperous, were no longer 
permitted to hold religious 
services, yet they were for- 
bidden to leave France. 
In spite of that prohibi- 
tion, many did leave the 
country, carrying their skill 
and their thrift to Holland, 
Prussia, England, or Amer- 
ica. Their emigration was 
a great economic loss to 
France. 

58. Wars of Louis XIV 
for New Eastern Bound- 
aries. — Louis XIV wished 
to protect Paris, 1 which is 
only- 110 miles from the 
northeastern boundary • of 

France. He also desired new territories in the valley 
of the Rhine River. He tried first to seize certain dis- 
tricts claimed by his wife in the Spanish or Belgian 
Netherlands. He was victorious until the Dutch formed 
against him a successful coalition of several countries. 
Later, Louis made war upon the Dutch. Under the leader- 
ship of their new Stadtholder, William of Orange, the 
Dutch formed a new coalition against Louis and won 




Louis XIV 



Belgian and 
Dutch wars. 



1 The nearness of Paris to the northeastern French boundary was an 
important cause of the German "drive" through Belgium and north- 
eastern France at the beginning of the great European war in 1914 
(§000). 



68 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Beginning 
of the 
"Second^ 
Hundred 
Years' 
War" be- 
tween 
France and 
England. 



the war, which brought Louis more enemies than 
victories. " 

Louis' next move, some ten years later, was to seize 
the Pa-lat'i-nate along the Rhine. 1 This attempt was 
made just a few months before James II was driven from 
the throne of England, when Louis' chief opponent, Wil- 
liam of Orange, became king of England as William III. 




1648 



17S9 



After 1871 



Eastern Boundaries of France. 



England was now brought definitely into war with France, 
.and the conflicts between these ancient enemies continued 
until Napoleon was beaten by Wellington at Waterloo in 
1815 (§ 158). This series of wars is sometimes called the 
Second Hundred Years' War. It was due to old rivalry 
and to dynastic jealousies, to competition for trade and 
foreign markets, but chiefly to a desire for colonial su- 
premacy in America and in India. 

1 The War of the Palatinate, known in America as King William's 
War, ended with the Treaty of By s wick (1697). 



AGE OF LOUIS XIV 



69 



59. The]War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1713). — Causes and 
Louis XIV was not content to make France larger and J^ents of 

° the war. 

more prominent. He persuaded the childless king of 
Spain, Charles II, to select Louis' younger grandson as 
his heir. 1 Without great delay an alliance of several coun- 
tries, including England and Austria, was formed against 
Louis. Each ally wished 
to maintain the " balance 
of power," which should 
keep any one country from 
becoming too powerful. 
Led by the brilliant but 
unstable Duke of Marlbor- 
ough and by the able Prince 
Eugene of Savoy, the forces 
of the allies won a notable 
victory oyer the French 
army at Blen'heim near 
the upper Danube (1704). 
When the triumphant allies 
sought to invade France, 
they were unsuccessful, 
because of a great chain of fortresses built by a French 
engineer, Vau-ban'. Their victories therefore did them 
little good. 

In 1711 the Archduke Charles 2 became emperor of Ger- The Treaty 
many. The allies could no more permit Charles to rule ^[^l^^ 
both Spain and Germany than they could allow Philip to 




Duke of Marlborough 



1 Louis XIVs mother was the granddaughter of Philip II of Spain 
and his wife had been a Spanish princess. When Louis had received 
assurance from most European monarchs that they would not object 
to a Bourbon king on the throne of Spain as well as on that of France, 
he cried out in exultation, "The Pyrenees are no more." 

2 Austria put forward the Archduke Charles as the claimant of the 
allies to the Spanish throne. The Spaniards wanted Philip but feared 
that their country might be absorbed by France. 



70 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



English 
gains and 
French 



Russia 
under the 
rule of 
Norsemen 
and 
Mongols. 



be king of Spain, with the possibility that he might also 
become king of France. They agreed, in the Treaty of 
Utrecht (1713), that Philip should be king of Spain on 
condition that the thrones of France and Spain should 
never be united. 1 

The defeat of the Spanish Armada represented the first 
stage in the rise of England as a world power ; this war, 
known in America as Queen Anne's War, marks the 
second. It left France in a state of exhaustion, hampered 
by a useless and extravagant court. After the death of 
Louis XIV in 1715, France no longer enjoyed the prestige 
and the power that had been hers under the " grande 
monarque." 

The Rise of Russia 

60. Russia before Peter the Great. — Under the 
successors of Ru'rik the Viking 2 the Russians were con- 
verted to the Greek Catholic form of Christianity and 
enjoyed considerable trade with the Byzantine empire. 
In the thirteenth century the country was overrun by the 
westernmost of the Mongols or Tartars, called the Golden 
Horde. To the leaders of the Golden Horde the princes of 
Russia paid tribute for mo-e than two hundred years. 
Finally the princes of Mosco v, having brought all of the 
neighboring Russian nobles under their sway, revolted 
against the rule of the Golden Horde. They had little 
difficulty in gaining their independence, for the day of 
Mongol supremacy was over, except in China and in 
India. 

1 As a result of treaties made between 1713 and 1721, Austria gained 
the Belgian Netherlands and Spanish territories in Italy. The house 
of Savoy acquired Sardinia, the beginning of the present kingdom of 
Italy. England kept Gibraltar, which she had captured during the war, 
and secured from France Acadia, all of Newfoundland, and territory 
around Hudson's Bay in America. 

2 E. E. C, § 463. . | 



RISE OF RUSSIA 



71 



The new 
Russia 



Under Ivan the Great and Ivan the Terrible, content 
poraries of the Tudor monarchs, a new Russia arose in J^er 
eastern Europe. The people were still barbarians and Ivan Hi 
they still clung to Mongol customs. Although they had j^ an Iv 
established a little trade with England through the 




General View of the Kremlix, Moscow, Russia 

Mus'co-vy Company, they were essentially an Asiatic 
people in their ideas, their interests, and their develop- 
ment. 

61. Peter the Great. — The modernizing of Russia 
was to a great extent the work of Peter the Great. Peter 
became the sole ruler of Russia in the year 1689, at the 
beginning of the Second Hundred Years' War between 
France and England. He was a man of extraordinary 
personality and a hard worker. Though possessed with a 
determination to make Russia a European country, Peter 
was in many respects a barbarian to the day of his death. 



Personality 
and pur- 
poses of 
Peter. 



72 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Western 
experience 
and abso- 
lutism. 



Customs 
changed by 
Peter. 



Economic, 
religious, 
and educa- 
tional 
changes. 



In order to understand western civilization Peter spent 
two years in Germany, Holland, and England, working 
as a common ship carpenter in Holland and studying every- 
thing with untiring interest and zeal. He tried to absorb 

European culture and civil- 
ization in order that he 
might know through ex- 
perience what his people 
should have. 

62. Reforms of Peter the 
Great. — On his return from 
the West, Peter persuaded 
or forced the Russians to 
adopt many European cus- 
toms. In place of the long 
cloaks, he insisted that the 
people wear the short trou- 
sers and the hats in use in 
western Europe. He placed 
a heavy tax on beards. 
When many of the nobles 
sought to keep their patriarchal beards, it is said that he 
stood at a gate of Moscow and with his own hands cut 
off the offensive ornaments. 

Peter brought to Russia thousands of able and skillful 
foreigners to teach his people. He tried to establish 
workshops or factories like those in the West and to build 
up trade between Holland, England, and Russia. Many 
religious reforms were introduced that won him the dis- 
like of some pious people at home and abroad. He 
established schools of an eminently practical char- 
acter — engineering schools or business colleges rather 
than classical schools. He encouraged his subjects 
to read, to translate, and to print, European books 
on history, agriculture, economics, and other subjects 




Peter the Great 



RISE OF RUSSIA 



73 



which would help them to understand European civil- 
ization. 1 

Peter did not succeed perfectly, for the Russians really 
believed their proverb " novelty brings calamity," yet he 
hastened the Europeanization of Russia. To prevent the 
undoing of his work, in 1718 Peter caused the death of his 
son A-lex'is by torture, because Alexis stood for the "old 
order " and opposed the innovations of his father. 

63. Expansion of Russia. — Inasmuch as Russia grew 
out of the principality of Moscow, it has always been an 
inland country, and a great deal of her history consists of 
attempts to gain seacoast. Large as she is to-day, Russia 
has very little valuable seacoast which brings her into close 
contact with the outside world. Although all of the 
Ro'ma-noffs 2 have felt the great need of desirable sea 
outlets, Peter the Great realized that need more than any 
other. The opportunity seemed to come to Russia when 
the king of Sweden died in 1697, leaving a son, Charles XII, 
only fifteen years of age. For a century Sweden had been 
the great power of the North, and her possessions around 
the Baltic kept other countries away from that sea. At 
first Charles defeated all of his enemies by his brilliant 
strategy, but his successes turned his head, and in the end 
he was completely beaten by Peter. 

In the north, on the Neva River, Peter founded a new 
capital, facing the West and in touch with western civiliza- 
tion. This was Petrograd, for two centuries called St. 
Petersburg. Peter also tried to gain a foothold on the 
Black Sea, but in this he was unsuccessful. The desire 



Opposition 
to Peter of 
the nobles 
and of his 
son Alexis. 



Russia's 
desire for 
seacoast 
and conflict 
with 

Swedenffor 
the Baltic. 



Russian 
struggle 
for Black 
Sea coast 
and|for 
Constanti- 
nople. 



1 Peter did not allow women to be kept in their former oriental seclu- 
sion, but urged them to appear in public without veils and in open litters. 
He insisted that engaged couples should be allowed to see each other, 
and to break off the engagement if they did not desire to marry. 

2 In 1613 a Russian noble, Michael Romanoff, became tsar. His 
descendants occupied the Russian throne until 1917 (§ 000). They are 
called Romanoffs. 



74 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Russia in 
Siberia and 
in Central 
Asia. 



Catherine 
favored 
reform 
but accom- 
plished 
little. 



to gain an outlet from the Black Sea via Constantinople 
aroused the antagonism first of England and France, and 
later of Germany, so that the struggle for Constantinople 
has been an important feature of international diplomacy 
during the last century. 

Before Peter's time traders and merchants had crossed 
the plains of Siberia. Like the French traders and ex- 
plorers who at this time were gaining the Mississippi 
Valley for France, and the Hudson's Bay Company trap- 
pers who were securing British America for England, 
even in Peter's day the merchants of Russia carried her 
rule to the Pacific. A few years later, Bering's explora- 
tions brought Russians to Alaska, which later (1867) was 
sold to the United States. In the nineteenth century other 
lands were added in central Asia and on the Pacific coast 
near Japan. Trade was an important factor in the making 
of the Russian empire as well as in the formation of the 
British empire. 

64. Catherine II of Russia. — The ruler of Russia from 
1760 to 1796 was Catherine II. Catherine was a German 
princess who came to the throne after the sudden death of 
her husband, the tsar. She was a woman of considerable 
charm, but was ambitious and unscrupulous. Catherine 
attempted to carry on the work of Peter the Great in 
making Russia a leading European power. She really 
wished to introduce in Russia reforms by which laws 
should be improved 1 and justice should be given to all, 
a larger share in government should be extended to the 
people, and serfdom should be abolished. She tried to 
establish national schools taught exclusively by Russian 
teachers. Actually she accomplished very little, for at 

1 Catherine called a great commission to codify the laws. To the 
commission she asserted that the nation is not made for the sovereign 
but the sovereign for the nation. Equality consists in the obedience of 
the citizens to the law alone ; liberty is the right to do everything not 
forbidden by law. War interfered with the completion of the code. 



RISE OF RUSSIA 75 

the end of her reign the serf was worse off than he had been 
at the beginning, and the people had gained only the forms 
of self-government. 

Catherine was more in earnest, and more successful, Catherine 
in her foreign plans. She seized territory on the Black Sea theter- 
and thus gained an outlet for Russian commerce through ritory of 
the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. She gained Baltic Russia - 
lands that gave Russia a seacoast on the northwest as 
well as on the south. Finally, with the cooperation of 
Prussia and Austria, she gained half of Poland. 

65. The Partitions of Poland. — In the seventeenth Disorgan- 
and eighteenth centuries there were two European coun- ^.^^and" 
tries whose governments were badly disorganized and former 
which in consequence were a prey to their neighbors' j^^ ss ° 
cupidity. These two were Germany and Poland. As 
we have seen, the Rhine states of the Holy Roman Em- 
pire had not been able to protect themselves against 
Louis XIV, although the empire included the two powerful 
monarchies of Prussia and Austria. Poland, on the other 
hand, was an undeveloped country, backward in almost 
every respect and misruled by a large body of nobles, under 
the nominal leadership of a king. In the days of Queen 
Elizabeth, there had been reason to think that Poland 
would become one of the great powers of Europe. Her 
own people had begun to unite, she had acquired the 
" Baltic provinces " almost to the Gulf of Finland, and in 
1569 she had almost doubled her territory by absorbing, 
on equal terms, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Just at 
that crisis her king died without an heir and the Polish 
nobles never gave the people a chance to become a united 
nation. So undependable was the government that in 
the last half of the seventeenth century the annual diet of 
the nobles had broken up in disorder every year but four. 

Poland therefore fell an easy prey to the greed of her 
neighbors, Russia, Prussia, and Austria. In 1772 each 



76 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Division 

Poland 

between 

Russia, 

Prussia, 

and 

Austria. 



of annexed a piece of the unfortunate country. 1 This high- 
handed act called forth much adverse comment from other 
nations, but none was willing to fight in order to protect 
the Poles. Later Russia forced Poland to elect her candi- 
date as king, and twice later (1793, 2 1795) Poland was 



THE PARTITIONS 
OF POLAND 



Partition I 
56 of 1772 ^ 

Partition/ 
of 1793 I 

Partitionf 
of 1795 \ 




u o _ -i% Ul -\ *, =^i ^ 



Longitude East] 81° 'Am Greeuw 




Partitions of Poland 



■. IUIAI.-.S EN6.C0...H 



further divided. Kosc-i-us'ko, who had fought with 
Washington, bravely tried to defend his country against 
the robbers, but without success. After 1795, Poland 

1 Prussia in 1772 gained West Prussia which joined the old mark of 
Brandenburg to East Prussia. This annexation was exceedingly- 
valuable in uniting Prussian territories. In the first partition, Austria 
gained Galicia, where so many battles have been fought in the Great War. 

2 Austria did not share in the second partition of Poland. 



RISE OF PRUSSIA 77 

no longer existed as a separate country. Later, Russia 
(§ 171) gained most of the Polish territory that in 1793 
and 1795 had been acquired by Prussia and Austria. 

The Rise of Prussia 

66. Early History of Brandenburg. — Russia was not Slow devel- 
the only new power that arose in the eighteenth century, ^^* n ° f 
for, under Frederick the Great, the country that we know burg under 
as Prussia began to play an important part in European ^oLrns " 
politics. Modern Prussia has grown out of the mark of 

Bran' den-burg, which was established as a bulwark or buffer 
state against the invasions of the Slavs. 1 By the Golden 
Bull (1356) the ruler of Brandenburg was recognized as a 
regular " elector " of the emperor, and for several centuries 
was called the elector of Brandenburg. Since 1415 the 
rulers of Prussia have belonged to the House of Ho-hen- 
zoriern. 

The Hohenzollerns were not received with open arms Branden- 
by their nobles, but they quickly put an end to opposi- £ urg 
tion by using the fifteenth century prototypes of the Krupp Protestant 
guns which have been so effective in the Great War. The and gains 
second elector enlarged the boundaries of his mark. Prussia. 
" From that day to this, with but one or two exceptions, 
each ruler in turn, by inheritance, by purchase, by con- 
quest, or by peaceful annexation, has added something to 
his original domains." 2 

Most of the people of Brandenburg were Protestants, 
but the elector did not become a Protestant until after 
his mother had lived for several months at the home of 
Martin Luther. In 1618 the elector became the ruler of 
the duchy of East Prussia, a feudal dependency of Poland. 

67. Prussia before Frederick the Great. — The ablest 
ruler of Prussia before Frederick the Great was the 

1 E. E. c, § 462. 

2 Henderson, Short History of Germany, II, p. 2. 



78 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Rule of the 

Great 

Elector. 



Grand- 
father and 
father of 
Frederick 
the Great. 



Frederick 
and Prussia. 



The War of 
the Aus- 
trian Suc- 
cession. 



" Great Elector" who made himself absolute in his scattered 
possessions and by his skill in diplomacy gained important 
concessions for Prussia. He encouraged the immigration 
of skilled artisans, especially of Huguenots who fled 
from France when Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes. 
In 1701 the elector of Brandenburg became the king 

of Prussia. 1 His suc- 
cessor, the father of 
Frederick the Great, 
saved money, trained 
a large army, and 
gathered a famous 
body guard of giant 
grenadiers. 

68. Frederick the 
Great and His Wars. 
— Frederick the Great 
(1740-1786) became 
king of Prussia a 
quarter of a century 
after the death of 
Louis XIV, and fifteen 
years after Peter the 
Great passed away. 
Frederick was a man of ambition and intelligence, a 
warrior, a statesman, and a patron of all the arts. 

Frederick had just become king when the emperor 
died, leaving no son. The youthful Maria Theresa as- 



1 He now had no more territory than before, and of course Branden- 
burg was worth forty Prussias. Why then was he called king of Prussia 
and not king of Brandenburg? The reason is this: Within the Holy 
Roman Empire there was opposition to the creation of any more king- 
doms, but Prussia, unlike Brandenburg, was outside of the empire. 
The emperor was therefore persuaded, in return for money and troops 
that he needed in the War of the Spanish Succession, to let the elector 
of Brandenburg call himself king of Prussia. 




Maria Theresa Monument, Vienna 



RISE OF PRUSSIA 79 

cended the Austrian throne. Her father had tried to 
secure international agreements that her territories and 
power should be respected. Frederick the Great treated 
his written promise asa" scrap of paper"; immediately 
he tried to get the province of Silesia, to which he thought 
he had a fair claim. France and other countries joined 
him in his war against Austria. Maria Theresa found 
friends in England and Holland, but Frederick's victories 
in the field caused her to buy his withdrawal from the war 
by the cession of Silesia. This was the War of the Austrian 
Succession, known in America as King George's War. 

A few years later, in 1756, there broke out in Europe, Seven 
in America, and in Asia a great international conflict Ye f r L s ' War 

; ° and the 

known as the Seven Years' War. In this war England conflict for 
and Prussia were arrayed against France, Austria, Spain, colomal 

* ° . supremacy. 

and other countries. It was a war between Austria and 
Prussia for supremacy in central Europe, ending with slight 
gains for Prussia. But it was a war preeminently for co- 
lonial supremacy, in the New World and the Old, between 
the decaying monarchy of Louis XIV and the new consti- 
tutional kingdom and empire of Great Britain. France 
lost all her colonies on the continent of America and in 
India (§ 86) . The brilliant success of the English under the 
guidance of her great prime minister, William Pitt, marked 
the third step in the rise of England to the position of a. 
world power. After this war Frederick and his enemies 
were at peace during the remainder of his reign. 

69. Frederick the Great in Peace. — Besides the grant- Frederick 
ing of religious toleration, Frederick II of Prussia intro- JJ of . 
duced many reforms in his country, for Frederick was an reformer, 
intimate friend of Voltaire and had studied the works of 
other reform philosophers ; therefore he was one of the 
most enlightened despots of his time. 

One of his first reforms was an attempt to improve the Legal 
laws of Prussia. Although many changes were made dur- Reforms - 



80 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Agricul- 
tural aid. 
Coloniza- 
tion. 



Protective 
duties and 
smuggling. 



ing his lifetime, a complete code of laws of the country 
was not published until after his death. He sent some of 
his ablest lawyers to different parts of his kingdom in 
order to settle lawsuits that had been dragging on for 
years. 

He helped his people by draining the swamps and re- 
claiming the lands which had been waste. After the great 
Seven Years' War, he granted to farmers whose houses 

and barns had been 
burned sums of money 
with which to replace 
necessary farm build- 
ings. Upon some of 
these lands and some 
that were unoccu- 
pied, he settled immi- 
grants, a few of whom 
came from outside the 
boundaries of Prussia. 
Many of the immi- 
grants that were en- 
couraged to make their 
homes in Prussia were 
skilled artisans, who 
not only carried on 
their own craft to the 
advantage of Prussia 
but also taught the people better methods, for example, 
in making butter and in weaving silk. 

To protect home industries and also to gain revenue 
for those expensive undertakings and for the army, Fred- 
erick levied protective duties on the goods brought into 
Prussia. In spite of the fact that the government used 
more severe measures against smugglers than did the Eng- 
lish government against Americans who evaded the Navi- 




Frederick the Great 



Louis XIV. 



ABSOLUTISM ON THE CONTINENT 81 

gation Acts (§81) L very little revenue was secured and in- 
dustry did not develop rapidly. 

Frederick believed that men should be personally Attitude 
free. He therefore abolished serfdom on the royal lands g°^om 
in the eastern part of his domain. But even the great 
Frederick found it impossible to do away with serfdom, 
or greatly to relieve the serfs, on the lands of the nobles. 

70. Summary. — The reign of Louis XIV of France Age of 
was a period of display, the grand monarque being the 
first personage in Europe. Louis' minister, Colbert, 
improved the finances, created protective tariffs, and 
regulated industry. Louis counteracted the good effect 
of Colbert's work by spending vast sums on his palace 
and court at Versailles and on his wars, and by revoking 
the Edict of Nantes, thereby driving many thrifty Hugue- 
nots out of France. Because most of western Europe was 
united against him, Louis failed in four wars, those against 
the Belgians and the Dutch, and those fought for the 
possession of the Palatinate and to place his grandson 
on the Spanish throne. The Treaty of Utrecht (1713) 
closed the period of French greatness but not of French 
absolutism. 

Modern Russia grew out of the principality of Mos- The rise 
cow after the Moscow princes threw off the Mongol yoke. 
The Europeanization of Russia was due largely to Peter 
the Great (1682-1725), who made himself absolute, 
brought in foreigners, and introduced western books, 
schools, and customs. Russia enlarged her territories to 
the Baltic Sea, at the expense of Sweden; to the Black 
Sea, at the expense of Turkey ; and across Siberia to the 
Pacific Ocean. Under Catherine II, formerly a German 
princess, Russia gained half of Poland in the three par- 
titions of that misgoverned and unhappy country. 

Brandenburg, under the Hohenzollerns, became Prot- 

1 Ashley, American History, §§ 121-123. 



of Russia. 



82 MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 

The rise estant and acquired the duchy of Prussia. In 1701 the 
o mssia. elector of Brandenburg assumedthe title of king of Prussia. 
The two great Prussian rulers before the nineteenth cen- 
tury were the Great Elector and Frederick the Great, 
both of whom were famous in war and in peace. At the 
middle of the eighteenth century, however, Prussia's 
territories were still much scattered, and she was inferior 
to Austria as a German power ; later, she acquired part 
of Poland. Frederick the Great was distinguished for his 
wars, for the reforms of the laws and law courts, and for 
the help]Jie gave his people in raising their standard of 
living. 

General References 

Schville, History of Modern Europe, 200-247. 
Seignobos, ^History \of A Medieval and Modern Civilization, 
345-386, 406-433. 

Robinson and Beard, Readings in Modern European History, 

I, 1-82. 

Duruy, History of Modern Times, 311-433. 

Wakeman, The Ascendancy of France (Periods, V), 184-371. 

Hassall, The Balance of Power (Periods, VI), 1-279, 298-331. 

Morfill, Story of Russia. 

Dole, Young Folks' History of Russia. 

Rambaud, History of Russia, especially II, 13-126, 203-220. 

Henderson, Short History of Germany, II, 1-218. 

Cambridge Modern History, V., VI. 

Topic 

Peter the Great and His Work: Robinson and Beard, 
Readings in Modern European History, I, 57-63 ; Seignobos, 
Contemporary Civilization, 17-28 ; Rambaud, History of Russia, 

II, 33-39, 76-105; Howe, A Thousand Years of Russian His- 
tory, 8^-123. 

Studies 

1. Louis XIV. Robinson and Beard, Readings in Modern 
European History, I, 5-12. 

2. Court and ceremonial at Versailles. Seignobos, History 
of Medieval and Modern Civilization, 351-356. 



ABSOLUTISM ON THE CONTINENT 83 

3. Colbert. Duruy, History of France, 419-425. 

4. Wars of Louis XIV on the Belgians and Dutch. Duruy, 
History of France, 430-439. 

5. Warfare and armies on the Continent. Seignobos, 
History of Medieval and Modern Civilization, 375-386. 

6. The problems of the Spanish Succession. Robinson 
and Beard, Readings in Modern European History, I, 39-46. 

7. The sciences, literature, and arts on the Continent. 
Seignobos, History of Medieval and Modern Civilization, 419-433. 

8. Russia under the Mongols. Larned (ed.), History for 
Ready Reference, IV, 2756-2758. 

9. How Peter the Great forced his people to wear western 
dress. Robinson and Beard, Readings in Modern European 
History, I, 61-63. 

10. Charles XII. Schville, Modern Europe, 221-226. 

11. Government and reforms of Catherine II. Rambaud, 
History of Russia, II, 203-220. 

12. Partitions of Poland. Phillips, Poland, 58-87. 

13. Conditions in Europe at beginning of the eighteenth 
century. Hassall, Balance of Power (Periods, VI), 1-7. 

14. Prussia before the Thirty Years' War. Henderson, 
Short History of Germany, II, 1-8. 

15. Frederick the Great in time of peace. Henderson, 
Short History of Germany, II, 182-204. 

Questions 

1. In what way was Louis XIV famous ? In what respects 
was he great? Show how his court at Versailles was valued 
by the nobles and by other monarchs. 

2. What did Colbert do for France ? Why was the revoca- 
tion of the Edict of Nantes an economic as well as a religious 
mistake ? 

3. Discuss Louis' objects in making war. Why did he 
fail? In what respect or respects did he succeed? Give the 
provisions, and show the importance, of the Treaty of Utrecht 
(1713). 

4. Trace the history of Russia before the time of Peter the 
Great. How did Peter learn western ways ? How did he make 
himself absolute ? How did he Europeanize Russia ? 

5. Discuss the expansion of Russia ? Why is more seacoast 
a present need of both Russia and Germany? Will not the 
time come when Russia will seize the seacoasts that she needs ? 



84 MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 

6. Show why the Partition of Poland was possible in the 
late eighteenth century. Consider internal conditions (§ 65) 
and diplomacy of the period. Name two good results that 
followed the downfall of Polish rule. 

7. Is the policy of the ruling Hohenzollern different from 
that of his ancestors as explained in section 67? 

8. Why is modern Prussia largely the work of the Great 
Elector and of Frederick the Great? 

9. What was the general nature of absolutism in England 
during the seventeenth century and later on the Continent? 
How did it pave the way for revolution? Give a resume of 
the old order (consult §§ 111-119). 



CHAPTER IV 

STRUGGLE FOR COLONIAL AND COMMERCIAL 
EMPIRE 

71. Periods of International Conquest. — The struggle How the 
of the European nations for trade began earlier than that struggle 
for territory. It was connected especially with the became a 
contest for a share in the eastern trade. After Columbus contest for 
discovered America, however, in order that any people 
might have commerce, it was necessary that they should 
hold territory. In consequence large areas were seized and 
kept by the competing nations, not for homes, but for 
profit. Practically all of the colonizing was done by great 
commercial companies. Even among the English, who 
were the only distinctively colonizing people, that is, 
people who sought homes, the early colonies were estab- 
lished by commercial companies such as the Virginia 
Company. 

Before the close of the sixteenth century the contest Great rivals 
was particularly sharp between Spain and Portugal, * n th ® dif ~ 
although even before that time the English, French, and centuries. 
Dutch were interested in distant trade. In the seven- 
teenth century the conflict was primarily between the 
Dutch and the English. From the Revolution of 1688 
to the overthrow of Napoleon in 1815, the great inter- 
national contest was between the English on the one 
side and the French on the other. 1 

1 Although both France and England were particularly anxious to 
extend their foreign business, the contest was not simply a struggle for 
trade, but it included a world-wide effort to extend colonial dominions. 

85 



86 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Division of 
the non- 
civilized 
world 
between 
Spain and 
Portugal. 



Reasonsjfor 
the suc- 
cesses and 
failures 
of Spain. 



Fisheries 
as a train- 
ing for 
maritime 
power. 



Contest for Atlantic Trade Before 1700 

72. Spain vs. Portugal. — Before the close of the six- 
teenth century Columbus and Ves-pu'ci-us had carried 
the flag of Spain to the tropical islands and mainland 
of the New World, Vasco da Gama had led the Portuguese 
around Africa to India, 1 and the Pope had divided the 
uncivilized world, giving Spain the western half and Por- 
tugal control in the eastern hemisphere. 2 

It will be seen from these statements that the rivalry 
between Spain and Portugal did not bring them actively 
into conflict. Spain found that the New World contained 
more land than she could occupy; the mineral wealth 
of Mexico and Peru and the agricultural products of the 
West Indies furnished for her all the articles of commerce 
which her merchant marine could handle. In fact the 
great area of America dissipated rather than concen- 
trated the colonizing strength of Spain. In like manner 
her ability to seize the treasures of Mexico and Peru 
made her dissatisfied with the slower process of acquir- 
ing wealth by growing sugar, tobacco, and other tropical 
products on the plantations of the West India Islands. 
Coupled with the narrow policy of Spain toward business 
in the Spanish peninsula as well as in the colonies, 3 the 
development of Spain was superficial and her commercial 
prosperity was not solid or lasting. 4 

73. Dutch and English Fisheries. — In order to under- 
stand how different industries were connected with the 
international rivalry and contest for colonies, let us study 
some of them, the fisheries, the fur trade, tobacco, 5 

» E. E. C, § 656. 2 E. E. C., § 654. 3 E. E. C, § 693. 

4 Portuguese development was likewise superficial. We need not 
take up again the unfortunate methods used by the Portuguese in the 
East (E. E. C, § 656) ; we need simply note that because of those methods 
the Portuguese colonies fell an easy prey to the enterprising Dutch traders 
after the organization of the Dutch East India Company in 1602. 

5 Tobacco in Virginia is considered later (§ 78). 



ATLANTIC TRADE BEFORE 1700 



87 



and sugar. In a very true sense the commercial great- 
ness of Holland and England had a very humble origin. 
Long before the sailors and merchants of either nation 
gained control of the trade of northern Europe and of 
distant commerce with the East and America, they were 
learning the terrors of the deep through their fishing 
experiences in the North Sea. 

The Dutch made use of these fishing opportunities 
before the English appreciated their value. It is said 




Dutch Fishing Boats 

that within three days, in the first year of the seventeenth 
century, fifteen hundred fishing boats sailed from Hol- 
land for the herring shoals of the North Sea. A few years 
later it was estimated that the value of the fish caught 
by the Dutch exceeded in value the manufactures of 
England and France combined. 1 English supremacy in 

1 With their usual thoroughness the Dutch perfected means of catch- 
ing, drying, and curing fish which were far superior to those in use among 
the English or any other peoples. The superiority of the Dutch methods 



How Dutch 

fishing 
supremacy 
yielded to 
the English. 



88 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Reasons 
for French 
supremacy 
in the 
Newfound- 
land 
fisheries. 



Importance 
of the fish- 
eries in the 
settlement 
of New 
England. 



the fisheries of the North Sea did not begin until, during 
the later seventeenth century, England in a series of 
wars (§ 76) sought to destroy Dutch commerce. 1 

74. Influence of Fish and Furs in the Development of 
America. — When John Cabot and later voyagers brought 
word that the western sea around Newfoundland swarmed 
with fish, sailors from northern France and from western 
England set out for these more distant fields in which 
there was an abundance of fish for all comers. The 
French rather than the English took advantage of these 
opportunities 2 ; since the large number of holidays 
authorized by the Roman Catholic Church created a de- 
mand for fish which did not exist in Protestant England, 
after she separated from the church of Rome. The first 
serious attempt at colonization on the part of the French, 
which was made under Cartier and Roberval in 1540, 
was not successful; but the fishing business developed 
throughout the sixteenth century, and, in the early part 
of the seventeenth, made possible the first permanent 
French settlements in Acadia and at Quebec in Canada. 

When the Pilgrim Fathers established (1620) the first 
permanent settlement in New England, there were some 
fishing huts used by transient fishermen on the New 
England coast. The food supply of the Pilgrims and of 
other Puritans who later settled in New England came 

and their skill in finding new markets for fish and other products made it 
impossible for either the English or the French to compete with them. 

1 The North Sea fisheries were more than an important source of 
wealth among the people of Holland, England, and other countries. 
The fishing fleets of each nation were convoyed and protected by armed 
vessels, which sometimes clashed. Out of this conflict grew international 
difficulties which have had an important influence on the development of 
international law. In connection with the fishing rights of the Dutch 
in the North Sea, Gro'ti-us, sometimes called the father of international 
law, wrote one of his most important books. 

2 On account of their location England and Holland made use of the 
North Sea fisheries, while the French took chief advantage of those off 
Newfoundland. 



ATLANTIC TRADE BEFORE 1700 89 

very largely from the sea, and the only profitable com- 
modity of commerce, which they sold in Europe and in 
the West Indies, was secured from the ocean. Without 
these fisheries it is therefore probable that the New Eng- 
land colonies would not have been very successful. 

The fur trade with the Indians of the interior of the Areas ex- 
northern states and Canada led to extensive explorations *?!° lted p y 

dinerent 

and to a well-developed trade. In the North, French fur European 
traders went far inland, penetrating the Great Lake countnes - 
region and the northern tributaries of the Mississippi 
river. The Dutch and later the English, through the 
powerful Iroquois Confederacy, gained control of an 
extensive fur trade south of the Great Lakes. There 
was developed later by the English in the Hudson Bay 
region a fur-trading company which was destined to bring 
under English dominion all western Canada. The fur 
trade was, therefore, a source of profit and led to explo- 
ration and even to armed conflicts between rival nations. 

75. Sugar and Slavery. — During the eighteenth and Reasons for 
nineteenth centuries the most important import of the tne > inte 1 r ,~- 

national \ t 

United States was sugar. In the sixteenth and seven- importance 
teenth centuries the same thing was true of England, of > u s ar - 
since sugar was the most valuable commodity imported. 
Sugar cane grows only in a very hot climate. It calls 
for labor which Europeans are unwilling and unable to 
furnish. For these reasons sugar has played an important 
part in the development of commerce and in international 
relations ; first, because cane sugar, the only kind used 
before 1850 (§ 209), cannot be grown in any part of 
Europe and therefore must be transported from trop- 
ical countries, preferably a country's own colonies. 
It was important economically in the second place be- 
cause it demanded a large supply of menial or slave labor, 
and therefore was largely responsible for the develop- 
ment of African slavery in America, and because it has 



90 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Causes and 
extent of 
the African 
slave trade. 



Extent of 
the Dutch 
carrying 
trade in 
the seven- 
teenth 
century. 



caused an international struggle for the islands and 
possessions where it can be grown most successfully. 

The Spanish tried to make use of the Indians as slaves 
on their plantations, but the natives did not prove hardy 
enough for such heavy work. In consequence, the Por- 
tuguese and Spanish traders soon sent to Africa for a 
supply of slaves to be employed on plantations for the 
cultivation of sugar, rice, tobacco, indigo, and other 
products. Native African princes at first sold the cap- 
tives taken in war ; then a regular slave trade was organ- 
ized with the interior of the Dark Continent, the pur- 
chasers being Portuguese, Spanish, or English traders. 
In spite of great loss of life on the terrible " middle pas- 
sage " from Africa to America, large numbers of negroes 
were imported into the Spanish, French, Dutch, and 
English colonies, especially those in tropical and semi- 
tropical lands. It is said that the annual number brought 
to American plantations was about twenty-five thousand 
before 1700 and was four times that number a century 
later. In time the English gained practically a monop- 
oly of this slave traffic. 

76. The Dutch Carrying Trade and English Laws. — 
During the seventeenth century the best of these trade 
opportunities in the Atlantic area were seized by the 
Dutch. The Dutch traders carried most of the com- 
modities exchanged between Europe and the Spanish, 
French, and English colonies, as well as those of Holland 
in America. In addition, the Dutch practically monopo- 
lized the carrying trade between the countries of northern 
and western Europe. 1 

By the middle of the seventeenth century the English 
were determined to break this Dutch monopoly of the 



1 Half of the vessels which went to the Baltic were controlled by 
Holland ; nine tenths of those that entered English ports flew the Dutch 



ATLANTIC TRADE BEFORE 1700 



91 



carrying trade for English goods. When Cromwell 
came into power, in 1651, a navigation act was passed. 
This was reenacted in 1660. It forbade the carrying of 
goods to or from England or her colonies except in vessels 
built in England or the colonies, or in ships of the country 
with which they were trading. This was the first important 
law in a series of acts of trade which caused the decline of 
Dutch shipping and commerce, and which had so much 
influence later in arousing the opposition of the American 
colonists to England. 1 The Dutch monopoly of the 
carrying trade, however, was not broken entirely by 
economic means. In a series of wars, begun under Crom- 
well and continued under Charles II, the English tempo- 
rarily destroyed the Dutch fisheries in the North Sea 
and interfered greatly with their trade in northern Europe 
and in America. 2 



English 

laws 

against 

Dutch 

carriers in 

England 

and 

America. 



Decline 
of Dutch 

commerce. 



English and French Colonies in the Seventeenth 
Century 

77. Motives and Methods of Early Colonization. — Policy of 
The European countries wished colonies chiefly for the Eur °pean 

Z . . . .. . countries 

purpose of increasing their exports and adding to their toward 
wealth, particularly the supply of the precious metals. 3 colonies - 
In consequence the mother country almost always sought 
to secure from her colonies raw materials, which by the 
process of manufacture would increase greatly the value 
of the product. She also sought to make her colonies 



1 Although Dutch shipyards continued to build about half the vessels 
constructed in Europe, the American colonists could build ships better 
and cheaper than even the famous shipbuilders of Holland. The reason 
for this is the abundance of excellent ship timber on the shores of New 
England and the Middle colonies, and the abundance also of naval sup- 
plies in the southern colonies. 

2 By the conquest of the Dutch colony of New Netherland in 1664 
they also gained control of the fur trade with the Iroquois Indians. 

« E. E. C, § 727. 



92 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 






Commercial 
nature of 
the early 
colonies. 



Religious 
motives of 
coloniza- 
tion. 



markets for her surplus manufactured products. In 
order to carry out this rather short-sighted colonial 
policy, it was necessary that the mother country should 
absolutely control all commerce between the colony and 
the outside world. 

As profits of colonial enterprise were at first uncertain, 
the first colonies were established by commercial com- 
panies such as the East India Company and the Vir- 
ginia Company. These commercial companies secured 
land grants, which gave them control of certain terri- 
tories and a monopoly of the trade within these terri- 
tories. Because most of these were organized for trade, 
they frequently consisted of little more than scattered 
trading posts, about which a few homes of settlers were 
grouped. 1 The English companies usually had the right 
to control their own affairs and govern the territory or 
colony which was established in the new lands. 

Colonies were established not only for trade but for 
religious reasons. People who had no religious freedom 
or toleration in Europe wished to gain for themselves a 
place in the world where they could worship as they 
pleased. In no case was it the intention of those colonists 
to have religious freedom, since their whole desire was 
to have colonies in which their church should be the only 
church and all people should worship as they dictated. 
Almost without exception these groups of religious ref- 
ugees were forced to depend upon the cultivation of the 
soil rather than upon trade for the maintenance of their 
colony. 

In consequence only two types of colonies ever devel- 
oped into real provinces. (1) One type consisted of 

1 The Dutch settlements along the Hudson and Delaware rivers, and 
those of the French in the St. Lawrence, Great Lake, and Mississippi 
basins, were really trading posts, as were practically all of the colonies, 
or more exactly "factories," in the Hudson Bay region, as well as those 
in India and the East Indies. 



ENGLISH AND FRENCH COLONIES 93 

colonies founded by religious refugees ; of these the New Two types 
England colonies were the best example. (2) Other ° ol ^ ies 
provinces were agricultural settlements developed, as 
was Virginia, through the opportunities to establish 
profitable plantations and homes. 

78. Early History of Virginia. — At the close of the Attempts 
sixteenth century, Spain occupied all of the territory E ngh e sn 
from " Florida " to southern Peru, including most of to colonize. 
the islands of the West Indies. On the boundary of 
Florida Sir Walter Ralegh and his associates had sought 
to establish colonies, but three attempts on the part of 
the English left no permanent trace on the coast of the 
Carolinas. In 1606 a new company, the Virginia Com- 
pany, was organized for the purpose of colonizing the 
eastern coast of the present United States. One branch 
of this organization, the London Company, in 1607 made 
its first settlement at Jamestown, in the present state of 
Virginia. 

About ten years after Jamestown was founded, two importance 
things occurred which had a great influence upon the o fth e first 
history of England and America. In 1619 a representative legislature, 
assembly of twenty-two burgesses was allowed to meet 
with the governor and his counsellors in the first Ameri- 
can legislature. This assembly was afterward made 
permanent because King Charles thought it would be a 
convenient means of raising revenue in the new land. 

More influential in the history of Virginia, if not more Tobacco in 
important in American development, was the beginning Vir g ima: . 
of tobacco cultivation. The valleys of Virginia are wide political, 
and filled with a rich soil; the rivers are broad and and social 

results. 

navigable for seagoing vessels for some distance. Con- 
sequently plantations were established along the shores 
of Chesapeake Bay and the banks of the adjacent rivers 
by Englishmen who provided a large amount of capital 
and needed an abundant supply of labor. These tobacco 



94 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



The Great 

Migration 

to New 

England 

(1630- 

1640). 



New politi- 
cal institu- 
tions of the 
New Eng- 
land 
Puritans. 



plantations made Virginia wealthy and prosperous. 1 
At the beginning labor was furnished by indented ser- 
vants and later by negro slaves. Naturally social dis- 
tinctions were prominent. The size of the plantations 
caused Virginia to adopt the county system of government 
which was in use in England (§5). 

79. The New England Colonies. — The struggle be- 
tween Charles I and the Puritans, which culminated first 
in the Petition of Right, then in the struggle with Laud 
over the form of church service, and finally in the contest 
with Charles over the levying of taxes in the form of ship- 
money (§ 29), led to the establishment of several Puritan 
colonies in New England. In the year after the Petition 
of Right was adopted, a group of English Puritans, believ- 
ing that the king and Laud would not give them churches 
such as they wanted in England, obtained a charter to 
lands in New England north of the settlement of the 
Pilgrim Fathers at Plymouth. They established the 
colony of Massachusetts Bay, twenty thousand Puritans 
joining in a great migration to the New World 2 when arbi- 
trary church rule was followed by arbitrary taxation. 
These New England Puritans did not come to America 
for religious liberty, but in order to have a Puritan state 
and a Puritan church of their own. 

They were much interested in managing their own af- 
fairs. They met in their town meetings and looked after 
all their religious and secular business. They elected 
representatives to an assembly which met with the 



1 Tobacco had been unknown in Europe before it was imported from 
North America. As the demand grew rapidly, Virginia and many col- 
onies in the West Indies devoted especial attention to this crop, which 
gave the planter large profits. Its commercial importance is shown by the 
fact that Virginia was the only one of the "thirteen colonies" which suc- 
ceeded in exporting as much as it imported, all of the others being obliged 
to go into debt to the English merchants for the goods which they needed. 

2 See Ashley, American History, §§ 44-53. 



ENGLISH AND FRENCH COLONIES 



95 



governor and council of the colony in a legislature of two 
houses. Some of the more liberal Puritans migrated to 
the Connecticut valley, where they drew up a written 
constitution of their own (1639). As soon as Charles 
was forced to call Parliament (1640), the great migration 
closed, and many New England Puritans returned to 

the mother Country. American 

80. Conquest and Expansion. — Before the time of £ European 

the Commonwealth in England (§ 32), there were Eng- countries 

in 1650. 




New Amsterdam 



lish colonists living in two definite groups of colonies on 
the Atlantic coast. In the South, separated from the 
Spanish town of St. Augustine in Florida by a wilderness 
several hundred miles wide, were the Virginia and Mary- 
land settlements. Further north, separated from these 
southern colonies by the Swedes on the Delaware and the 



96 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Union and 
expansion 
of the"* 
English 
colonies. 



English 
colonies 
of homes. 



Self-govern- 
ment in 
English 
colonies. 



Dutch in New Netherland, was a group of New Eng- 
land settlements extending from Long Island Sound 
into the woods of Maine. After another interval 
of wilderness, claimed by both English and French, 
were found the French colonies of the north Atlantic 
slope. 

In 1664 England conquered the Dutch colony of New 
Netherland, which had already absorbed the Swedish 
colony of New Sweden. This conquest united the Eng- 
lish colonies of the north and south. About the same 
time there was established south of Virginia a new colony 
of Carolina which sought to keep the Spanish from ex- 
tending their dominions northward. These Carolina 
settlements prospered because they were adapted to 
the growing of rice, sea-island cotton, and indigo. As 
they demanded a large and crude supply of slave labor, 
they gave a new impetus to that nefarious traffic, the 
slave trade. 

81. England and the Colonies. — The English colonies 
differed from those of other countries in many respects. 
Most important was the fact that the English colonists 
were real settlers or homemakers who had not been 
exported to America for the purpose of promoting Eng- 
lish trade, but who had on their own initiative gone to 
the New World to find homes for themselves. In 
consequence the English colonies were inhabited by 
more thrifty, earnest people than were any other 
colonies. 

The English colonists were therefore able to conduct 
their own affairs in a way radically different from that 
in use in other colonies. They were also treated far 
better by their home government. Even in the West 
Indies the colonies, temporarily, were allowed representa- 
tive assemblies. In several of the New England colonies 
the people elected the governor's assistants and in two 



ENGLISH AND FRENCH COLONIES 



97 



colonies, Rhode Island and Connecticut, the governors in 
addition. 1 

The English government supervised the affairs of the 
colonies through a commission known as the Board of 
Trade. This board corresponded with the governors, 
gave them instructions, and decided which laws passed 
by the colonial legislatures and governors should be re- 
tained and which vetoed. They also supervised the 
laws of trade, 2 which were not enforced, partly because the 
enforcement was left to colonial officers and inspectors. 

82. The French in Canada. — When Henry IV of 
France put an end to the disastrous religious and 
civil strife in that country, commerce revived, industry 
prospered, and colonization began. Under Champlain, 
"father of New France," Canada was founded; later 
the French gained control of the whole St. Lawrence 



Control of 

colonial 

affairs 

by the 

mother 

country. 



Expansion 
in St. 
Lawrence 
and Missis- 
sippi 
basins. 



1 Where the governors were appointed by the crown, there was also 
a larger degree of self-government than there appeared to be, because 
these royal governors as a rule were not capable, efficient men, and the 
colonists ordinarily insisted that the assemblies rather than the governors 
should rule the colonies. The colonies were usually able to secure the 
upper-hand because by law the governor's salaries were paid by the 
assemblies. If the governors did not do as the assemblies wished, their 
salaries were withheld. 

2 When the first navigation law of 1651 was reenacted by the restora- 
tion parliament in 1660 (§ 76), it included a list of commodities known 
as enumerated articles which could be shipped from American colonies 
only to England. Among these enumerated articles were tobacco and 
sugar. This navigation law of 1660 was followed by later laws which 
compelled American merchants to buy their commodities in the Old 
"World from England, thus giving^English merchants a middleman's 
profit and control of the trade. In many cases these navigation acts gave 
the Americans advantages. For example, colonial ships were counted 
as English ships, Virginia and the Bermudas had a monopoly of the 
English tobacco market, and bounties were paid for naval stores and 
pig iron shipped to England. The English commercial policy was there- 
fore an advantage to the Americans, since they made use of all the help 
offered by the English laws and avoided all other provisions very cheer- 
fully and successfully, there being no moral sentiment against smuggling 
in either England or the colonies. 



98 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Nature of 
French 
rule and 
colonies. 



and Great Lake basin. About 1700 the French estab- 
lished the colony of Louisiana at the mouth of the Mis- 
sissippi river and gained temporary control of that great 
river basin. 1 

The French did not deal wisely with their colonies. 
Either their government used the paternal system of 
Colbert (§ 56) and did too much, or it neglected them 
or sacrificed their interests by subordinating them to 
its political ambitions in Europe. There was no self- 
government in French colonies ; the people were ruled 
arbitrarily by a governor, the first executive official, an 
intendant who spied upon the governor, and a council 
appointed by the king. This council made the laws and 
established the courts, being itself the last court of ap- 
peal. This method of governing the French colonies 
was an advantage in carrying on war and in occupying 
territory, but it did not develop strong, self-reliant colonies. 
The government established a paternalism which sought 
to aid the colonies, but which succeeded only in weaken- 
ing them. Commercial monopolies interfered with indi- 
vidual enterprises, immigration was restricted by the 
ardor of the Jesuit priests, who kept out the Protestant 
settlers, while feudal estates and privileges placed bar- 
riers in the way of social progress. For the protection 
of the fine territorial domain that she had secured, France 

1 In 1608 Champlain founded Quebec and in later years penetrated 
the interior, laying the foundations for the colony of New France. Al- 
though seized by the English in 1629, New France was returned to 
the French through the influence of Richelieu, but it did not prosper until 
the time of Colbert (§ 56), who took a great interest in French explora- 
tion. The work of extending French influence in America was carried 
on by four different classes : first, the Jesuit missionaries, who established 
missions among the Iroquois and Algonquin Indians of the Great Lake 
basin ; secondly, the fur traders, who penetrated the interior in order to 
secure greater profits (§ 74) ; thirdly, the explorers, such as Joliet (zho- 
li-a') and La Salle, who vis ited the Mississippi basin and desired to extend 
the political as well as the religious and commercial interests ; and 
fourthly, a series of able governors. 



COMMERCIAL WARS 99 

at the middle of the eighteenth century could muster 
only eighty thousand inhabitants, while the rival British 
possessions boasted nearly a million and a quarter. 

Commercial Wars between England and France 

83. Summary of Wars from 1689 to 1815. — Having Eighteenth 
examined the commercial rivalry between nations for °^|jJU ia i 
the control of the Atlantic before 1700 and having noted wars, 
the development of English and French colonies on the 
continent of America during the seventeenth century, 
we are now ready to make a more careful study of the 
eighteenth century commercial wars between England 
and France, which resulted in a complete victory for the 
English people and the extinction of France as a coloniz- 
ing power. The name " Second Hundred Years 7 War ' 
has sometimes been applied to this series of conflicts. 

The wars began when James II, protege of Louis XIV 
of France, was driven from the throne of England during 
the Revolution of 1688. Although due to dynastic rivalry 
between the houses of Bour'bon, which ruled France 
and^Spain during most of this period, and the reigning 
monarchs in England, this conflict of a century and a 
quarter was primarily for commercial supremacy. 

The first war, known as King William's War, from First 
William of Orange who succeeded James II, ended with- ?J Jj^L* 8 
out important result in the Treaty of Ryswick (1697). 1748). 
Five years later commercial rivalry, coupled with the 
ambition of Louis XIV to place his younger grandson 
on the throne of Spain (§ 59), led to the War of the Spanish 
Succession, which closed in 1713 with the Treaty of Utrecht. 
For a quarter of a century Europe was at peace. Then 
about 1740 England became embroiled with Spain over 
commerce in the West Indies, and Frederick the Great 
tried to wrest from Maria Theresa the province of Silesia 
(§ 68). The War of the Austrian Succession involved 



100 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Inter- 
mediate 
conflicts 
(1754- 
1783). 



Napoleonic 

Wars 

(1793- 

.1815). 



Territories 
and com- 
mercial 
gains for the 
English at 
Utrecht 
(1713). 



most of Europe and closed with the Peace of Aix-la- 
Chap-elle' (1748), which was really nothing but a truce, 
for war continued in India and broke out again in America 
before hostilities were resumed in Europe. 

In 1756 occurred the Seven Years' War, the greatest 
and most decisive of these conflicts. It was a struggle 
between France and England for colonial supremacy in 
America and in India, resulting in the expulsion of the 
French from both areas. It was also a great European 
conflict involving the most important powers. It ended 
in 1763 at the Peace of Paris. Twelve years later the 
American colonies revolted against English rule, and 
were joined soon after by the French, who sought to 
regain some of the possessions which they had lost during 
the Seven Years' War. Before the Revolutionary War was 
over, Spain and Holland were also at war with England. 
This war not only resulted in American independence, 
but caused many other losses for the English. It closed 
with the Treaty of 1783. 

During the French Revolution, the French not only 
executed their king, but they announced themselves as 
the champions of other peoples against their kings (§ 135). 
This precipitated in 1793 a war of Europe upon France 
which lasted with slight interruptions until the over- 
throw of Napoleon at Waterloo (§ 158). During these 
general European Wars western Europe was made over 
socially. England extended her trade to the uttermost 
limits of the world, and the war closed with considerable 
loss for France and the continued expansion of the British 
empire. 

84. Trade Advantages Gained by England Through 
the First Wars. — The Treaty of Utrecht (1713) brings 
out clearly the gains made by the English in the New 
World. In North America the French transferred to the 
English absolute control of the territory draining into 



COMMERCIAL WARS 101 

Hudson Bay, which had been occupied in part by the 
Hudson's Bay Company but had been disputed with 
French traders and " coureurs du bois " (bwa). The Eng- 
lish also gained absolute title to the island of Newfound- 
land, which dominated the fisheries of the adjacent 
fishing banks. France, however, retained some fishing 
rights which were settled by international treaty. Acadia 
was the third French land surrendered to the English in 
1713. With Newfoundland it controlled the entrance to 
the St. Lawrence Basin. 

In the West Indies England secured numerous advan- Commercial 
tages, including the sole right for thirty years to import °PP° rtum - 
negro slaves into the Spanish West Indies. The English England 
also gained the right to send a ship yearly to trade with ™ th ? 
the Spanish colonies. The English craftily took advan- west 
tage of this clause of the treaty and it is said anchored Indies - 
this ship outside of a Spanish port, taking on new cargoes 
as rapidly as possible from other English vessels, and 
transferring each immediately to eager Spanish merchants. 
The English also carried on with the Spanish islands an 
extensive illegal trade, both from Europe and from the 
English colonies on the mainland of America. In other 
words, the English instead of the Dutch became partners 
with the Spanish ; they had a practical monopoly of the 
lucrative West Indian trade, since the Spanish had 
practically no merchant marine of their own. 

85. The Struggle for the Mississippi and Canada. — The French 
Before the close of the seventeenth century England, m Louisiana 
France, and Spain became interested in the colonization chain of 
of the Gulf coast and the lower Mississippi basin. Spain ^te™ 
settled at Pensacola, 1696, the French three years later 
occupied Mobile, and the English made land grants and 
prepared to occupy this territory. After the Treaty of 
L'trecht, interest in colonization revived. The French 
settled at Natchez and at New Orleans on the Mississippi 



102 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



King 
George's 
War and the 
capture of 
Louisburg. 



The Seven 
Years' War 
and the 
capture of 
Quebec. 



river, the most important towns in their colony of Loui- 
siana. They connected these settlements at the mouth 
of the Mississippi with the towns of Canada by a series 
of forts or settlements at strategic points, such as St. 
Louis, Fort St. Joseph near Chicago, Detroit, and Fort 
Niagara. It was not until the middle of the eighteenth 
century, however, that France sought to occupy the val- 
ley of the upper Ohio. 1 

The French fortified Louisburg on Cape Breton Island 
at the mouth of the St. Lawrence, in order to checkmate 
the English in Newfoundland and Acadia. When Eng- 
land and France became the chief opponents in the War 
of the Austrian Succession, the colonies fitted out an expe- 
dition for the capture of Louisburg. With the aid of an 
English fleet this was seized. Great was the indignation 
throughout New England when, at the close of the war, 
Louisburg was restored to the French in exchange for 
the fortress of Ma-dras' in India. 

During the first period of the Seven Years 1 War, the 
English made little progress in their attempt to reach 
Canada, being defeated on Lake Champlain and at other 
points. After William Pitt became prime minister of 
England (1757), however, a much better army was organ- 
ized and abler leaders were appointed. The English 
then not only drove the French out of the upper Ohio 
valley, but occupied Niagara, which controlled two of 
the Great Lakes, defeated the French on Lake Cham- 
plain, and in 1758 under General Wolfe recaptured Louis- 
burg. The next year Wolfe attacked Quebec, which 
he captured after a long siege. He scaled the Heights 

1 A series of forts was erected from Lake Erie [to] Pittsburg. The 
Virginians objected because they claimed this: territory under an old 
charter, and war broke out when George]jWashmgton tried to uphold the 
claim of his colony. The French were left in possession of the disputed 
land in 1755, as General Braddock's force was defeated near Pittsburg 
a year before the great Seven Years' War broke out in Europe. 



COMMERCIAL WARS 



1G3 



Europeans 
in India 
before^!700 , 



of Abraham that commanded the city and defeated the 
forces of Montcalm, the great French commander. The 
fall of Quebec led 
easily to the occu- 
pation of Montreal 
and Detroit, in 
short, to military 
occupation of 
Canada. 

86. The Struggle 
for India. — Since 
Vasco da Gama 
had reached India 
in 1498, Europeans 
had sought for a 
foothold on the 
shores of that pen- 
insula. Long be-j 
fore 1700 the influ- 
ence of the Portu- 
guese had waned. 
The Dutch were 
next influential, especially at one or two points along 
the coast and on the island of Ceylon. The French had 
gained a foothold on the southea stern coast near Madras 
and in the north near the mouth of the Ganges. T.he 
British had trading posts not only at these two points 
but at Bombay on the northwestern coast. 

At this time India was divided into thousands of little Successful 
principalities whose rajahs usually recognized the sov 
ereignty of some overlord. The power of the great India 
Moguls had been declining since the days of their 
greatest emperor, Ak'bar. 1 A new power, that of the 
Mahrat'ta Confederacy, was becoming influential through- 

1 E. E. C, § 573, n. 1. 




Pitt, Earl of Chatham 



Asiatic 
rulers of 



104 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Leaders and 
methods 
of French 
and 
English. 



English 
victories 
in India. 



English 
victories 
after 1759. 



out the middle of the peninsula but never gained as 
much influence as the Moguls exercised in the time of 
Akbar. 

French and English leaders did not try to play politics 
in Indian affairs until about the time of the War of the 
Spanish Succession. Later, a capable French general, 
Duplaix (Du-play'), followed the method of Caesar in 
Gaul of playing off the local leaders against each other. 
Duplaix also organized companies of native troops known 
later as sepoys. With the aid of Admiral La Bour-don- 
nais', who realized that France must keep control of the 
sea in order to gain dominion in the East, Duplaix might 
have gained control of India, if he had been properly sup- 
ported by the French government at home. Instead, 
both the Admiral and Duplaix were recalled before 
they had accomplished much, and the English, ably led 
by Robert Clive, adopted Duplaix's methods in employ- 
ing native troops and playing politics among the native 
princes. 

The result was that at the battle of Wan' de-wash (1760) 
the English gained a complete ascendancy in the Car- 
nal 'ic, a strip of coast near Madras, and by the decisive 
victory of Plas-sey' (1757) they gained an ascendancy 
in Bengal at the mouth of the Ganges. By following 
up the latter they were able to organize Bengal within a 
few years into what might be called the first English 
province in India. All these changes were wrought not 
by the English government and people, but by the East 
India Company, which continued to rule the British pos- 
sessions until after the sepoy revolt in 1857 (p. 000). 

87. Peace of Paris, 1763. — For nearly three years 
after war ceased in America and India, France and Eng- 
land continued the great conflict elsewhere. During 
this interval Spain was allied with France, but England 
continued to gain victories. In the West Indies she 




DRLD IN 1763 

ator's projection: 
(ation of colors 



English 
French 
Ottoman Empire 



Si- Longitude E 



COMMERCIAL WARS 105 

seized several French islands including Gua-de-loupe' and 
Mar-tin-ique'. The Spanish town of Havana in Cuba and 
the Spanish colonies of East and West Florida fell into 
her hands. The Philippines were occupied by England 
after peace negotiations were begun. By 1762 she was 
in a position to dictate to all her enemies terms of peace 
which were exceedingly favorable to the conqueror. 
Especially was this true in regard to territories, because 
the war had proved to be a colonial death struggle from 
which France emerged with scarcely a trace of the mag- 
nificent territories which she had claimed at the begin- 
ning. 

In India France was left in possession of practically all English 
trading posts which she had at the beginning of the war, g a^ s °and 
but they were trading posts which could never grow into French 
colonies. The Philippines were restored to Spain, as 
was the town of Havana, but the Floridas were retained 
by England. Since France had granted to Spain all of 
Louisiana including the Isle of Orleans, France lost to 
England all her possessions on the mainland of North 
America. These included Canada, and the eastern Mis- 
sissippi basin from the Mississippi river to the Alleghany 
Mountains. 1 In this way was France expelled from the 
North American continent. 

England and America (1763-1789) 

88. Reorganization of the British Empire. — The 
close of the Seven Years' War brought to England not 
only huge territories in America and important posses- 

1 The Mississippi being the dividing line between English and Spanish 
colonies and the navigation of that river being open to the inhabitants 
of both countries, only two islets south of Newfoundland were kept as 
fishing stations, and these were never to be fortified. In the West 
Indies France regained the important sugar island of Guadeloupe in 
addition to Martinique and St. Lucia, but England retained several 
less important French islands. 



106 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Needs in 
organizing 
new col- 
onies and 
reorganiz- 
ing old. 



Inevitable 
opposition 
of the 
American 
colonists. 



sions in India, but compelled Great Britain to reorganize 
her empire. Since many of the new colonies were occu- 
pied chiefly by people who were not English and in some 
cases were hostile to English rule, it was necessary to estab- 
lish military government rather than self-government in 
these new possessions. It seemed necessary further to bring 
under a stricter control the older American colonies, which 
had shown themselves exceedingly independent. Among 
other changes was the enforcement of the old laws of trade 
(§81) which had either been made for the colonies or 
affected the colonies. Since the Seven Years' War had 
brought to England a heavier burden of taxes than 
had existed before the war began, it seemed fair to 
British imperial statesmen that the colonies should 
now pay a larger share of the expenses of colonial 
administration. 

However necessary and desirable these changes might 
be from the imperial point of view, they seemed to the 
colonists unnecessary; to a modern observer many of 
them appear unwise. For example, the presence of troops 
in the new colonies aroused the fears of the older American 
settlers. To be asked to pay part of the expenses of 
these troops added insult to injury. Furthermore the 
chief means by which the colonies had been kept depend- 
ent upon the mother country — that is, the presence of 
the French in Canada — had been removed by the war. 
Consequently the colonies objected to the reorganization 
of the British empire, which necessarily followed the 
enforcement of navigation laws. This reorganization, 
including as it did the levying of taxes and the enactment 
of new means of control, aroused serious opposition in the 
older colonies. Discerning statesmen, especially among 
the French, did not hesitate to predict that the acquisi- 
tion of Canada by Great Britain would mean the loss of 
her older colonies. 



ENGLAND AND AMERICA 107 

89. England's New Colonial Policy. — George III, How 
who came to the throne in 1760, was the first English- Arn . encan 

7 ° policies 

born king of the Han-o-ver'i-an line. He was upright, were mixed 
sincere, and earnest, but without tact, narrow, and ex- g P -? 1 ? 
ceedingly obstinate. As he was determined really to be political 
king, it was necessary to overthrow the Whig aristocracy ^ uestlons - 
which had established the cabinet system of government 
(§ 43). Unfortunately the new laws which were made 
for the government of the American colonies became parti- 
san issues in the struggle between the king and Parlia- 
ment which lasted from 1763 to 1770. 

The new colonial policy of England is represented by Enforce- 
four fairly well defined stages. (1) In order to secure mentof 

J ° v ' revenue 

revenue, the English government first decided to enforce laws of 
the old navigation laws. To do this it was necessary SjSSJIL 
to try smugglers without juries. This, in turn, aroused 
opposition because the smugglers preferred to be ac- 
quitted by their friends, and the colonists made a protest 
on the ground that they were entitled to a jury trial. 
In order to increase revenues, Parliament passed the Sugar 
Act, which practically reduced the prohibitive duties of 
the Molasses Act to one half of the old rates. If these 
new regulations had been enforced, the business of New 
England and New York with the West Indies would have 
been ruined. 

(2) The English government further decided to levy The 
upon the colonists a stamp tax similar to that in use in ?* w? 7fiB \ 
England. The colonies protested that their legislatures 
had the sole right of levying taxes, and there was con- 
siderable rioting and disorder when the stamped paper 
was sent to America. Stamp collectors were forced to 
resign, their homes in a few cases being burned. A Con- 
gress of delegates from each colony protested against the 
Stamp Act as unconstitutional since it was taxation 
without representation. These protests, accompanied 



108 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



British 
attempt to 
control 
colonial 
govern- 
ments 
(1767). 



Acts of 

Repression 

(1774). 



Separation 
from Great 
Britain 

(1776). 



by the refusal of the American merchants to buy goods 
in England or pay the bills which they owed in Europe, 
caused the repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766. 

(3) In order to show its authority and to pay the royal 
governors and judges, thus removing them from the domi- 
nation of the colonial assemblies, 1 the English Parliament 
now passed the Townshend Acts (1767). These provided 
for duties on goods imported into the colonies. One of 
these commodities was tea. When the American mer- 
chants boycotted the English merchants because of the 
Townshend Acts, all duties were repealed except that on 
tea. 

The tea tax led to further difficulties, culminating in 
1773 in the Boston Tea Party. The indignation of the 
English officials was so great at this outrage that several 
Repressive Acts were passed (1774). One of these closed 

the port of Boston to 
foreign trade and an- 
other suspended the 
Massachusetts charter. 
The people of that 
colony immediately 
formed a provisional 
government of their 
own and organized a 
colonial militia, whose 
members were known 
as minute men. 

90. Union and Inde- 
pendence in America. 
— In 1774 the colonies 
held the First Conti- 
nental Congress and organized the most complete union 
they had up to that time. The following year, after 

J §81. 




Independence Hall, Philadelphia 



ENGLAND AND AMERICA 109 

hostilities had begun at Lexington and Concord, they 
met in the Second Continental Congress, which became a 
real government for the thirteen colonies. This Congress 
not only organized the army and conducted the war, but 
on July 4, 1776, it declared the United States independent 
of Great Britain, and later it organized a regular union 
of the states, known as the Confederation. 

(1) In the first year of the war the British troops were Three 
forced to leave New England. (2) In the second period ]? e "J^ s of 
of the war the English sought to occupy the middle col- during the 
onies. in which there were numerous loyalists. They ^ evolu - 

' J J tionary 

seized New York, marched across to the American " cap- War. 
ital " at Philadelphia and sought to separate the New 
England states from those further South. 

Burgoyne failed in his invasion by the way of Lake Military 
Champlain when he was forced to surrender at Saratoga J7 er ^ of 
in 1777. The French, anxious to humiliate England, 
formed an alliance openly with the United States in 1778. 
This divided the English forces, many of which were 
retained in Europe, and it gave the Americans the aid 
of a navy. (3) In 1781 Cornwallis, who had marched 
through the southern colonies, was forced to surrender at 
Yorktown to a French fleet and a combined American and 
French land force under Washington. This closed the 
Revolutionary War. 1 

91. Treaty of Paris, 1783. — The international situa- English 
tion in 1783 was exceedingly interesting. The failure of P artlsan 

° J ° . quarrels 

England to subdue her revolting American colonies meant that 
that George III had failed to establish his personal gov- a ^ e ^ ed 
ernment (§ 000). He was forced, therefore, to call 
the Whigs back into power. These Whigs were divided 

1 One memorable event of this war was the heroic resistance offered 
by a small British force at Gibraltar through a terrible three-year siege. 
Gibraltar had been acquired by Great Britain in 1713. It is now con- 
sidered impregnable. The war was distinguished by one or two great 
naval victories for Great Britain. 



110 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Interna- 
tional com- 
plications 
affecting 
the treaty. 



Provisions 
of the 
treaties 
of peace. 



into two hostile factions, the old Whigs and the new 
Whigs. By playing off these factions against each other, 
the American commissioners were able to secure conces- 
sions which otherwise they would have been unable to 
obtain. 

These American successes were due not simply to the 
quarrels in the English government, but to the fact that 
England had been at war with four countries,- the United 
States, France, Spain, and Holland. England's sole 
hope of success lay in persuading either France or the 
United States to make a separate treaty, as she would 




Signatures, Treaty of Paris, 1783 

then be in better position to dictate to the others. For 
this separate treaty the English government labored un- 
ceasingly. They practically made one with Franklin and 
Jay, although it was not binding until a treaty had been 
made between Great Britain and France. 

The Treaty of Paris accepted the independence of the 
United States, gave us the Great Lakes as a boundary 
in the north, and the Mississippi on the west; and it 
secured for us the right to navigate that river and to fish 
off Newfoundland. Florida was transferred to Spain 
again, and in general territories or islands that had been 
captured by either side were returned to their former 
owners. It will be noticed that the United States was 



ENGLAND AND AMERICA 111 

the only country that gained important advantages from 
the negotiations or treaties. 

92. The United States Constitution. — The United Defects of 
States consisted of thirteen states united in a Confed- deration 
eration, organized in 1781, which was based upon state 
sovereignty. The government of this Confederation con- 
sisted of a Congress in which each state had one vote. 
Owing to the fear among the states of any central author- 
ity, the union was very imperfect, and the Congress had 
comparatively little real authority. In fact the Confed- 
eration did not even have sufficient power to raise revenue 
to pay interest on its war debt. It had no power to regu- 
late the commerce between states, which was a constant 
source of friction between them. It could not enforce 
the few laws which it attempted to make. Finally, since 
the Articles of Confederation could be amended only 
by the unanimous vote of the states, it was impossible 
to remedy any of these defects. 

After six years of growing confusion and dissatisfac- Adoption 
tion, a constitutional convention met at Philadelphia and °°ea t 
drew up a new Constitution. The union was no longer national 
based upon the sovereignty of the separate states. The ^onstitu- 
government consisted of a Congress of two houses, a Sen- (1787-1789). 
ate and a House of Representatives. There was to be a 
President elected for four years, and national courts whose 
judges were appointed by the President with the consent 
of the Senate. To [this Congress were given rather 
definite powers for the control of military affairs, 
and other duties which the government of a nation 
needs for the protection of the common interests of its 
people. 

Before 1800 the American people had made several ^ns^f 11 " 
important contributions in the history of the world. America 
First, they had practiced religious toleration and had ^idbefore 
finally abandoned state churches altogether, that is, they 1800. 



112 MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 

had established religious liberty. Secondly, they had 
proved that a people, not simply a small community 
but in a large nation, could govern itself. Thirdly, they 
had changed their colonial charters into regular written 
constitutions which they made the fundamental law not 
simply of the separate states, but of the whole nation. 
Fourthly, they had united a group of separate autono- 
mous states into a single union. This was neither a 
confederacy, that is, a league of states, nor a highly 
consolidated state, such as France seemed to be, but 
was a single united Federal State. 
Conditions 93. Summary. — After the discoveries of Columbus 
beforell7oo anc * ^asco ^ a Gama, international trade expanded rapidly. 
At first, Spain and Portugal had the best trade, one with 
the West, the other with the East. Then Holland gained 
chief control of the eastern trade, and of the carrying 
trade in northern Europe and in America. Dutch mari- 
time development was due in part to experience gained in 
the valuable North Sea fisheries. In America four typ- 
ical occupations furnished the basis of foreign trade, 
namely, the Newfoundland fisheries, the fur trade, sugar, 
and tobacco. 
English and Having broken the Dutch monopoly of the carrying 
French col- trade anc j Atlantic commerce by acts of trade and by wars, 

omes in J . J ; 

America. England sought by many means to outstrip her next 
rival, France. In America, Virginia, founded in 1607, 
owed her first success to tobacco, which found a ready 
market in England. The religious controversy between 
high churchmen (§ 29) and the Puritans drove many 
thousand Puritans to New England (1629-1640). After 
the Restoration (§ 34) Dutch New Netherland was 
conquered and the Carolinas were established. England 
left these colonies alone, for she did not enforce the acts 
of trade, which would have been harsh and unjust. In 
Acadia, Canada, and Louisiana the French had trading 



STRUGGLE FOR EMPIRE 



113 



centers and colonies which they supervised, not wisely 
but too well. 

Colonization alone would never have given England 
a victory over France. War was also a means of com- 
mercial development. From 1789 to 1815 the two coun- 
tries were only intermittently at peace, and England was 
almost uniformly successful except in the Revolutionary 
War. Even in that contest the English navy, an impor- 
tant cause of commercial supremacy, defeated the French 
fleet except in the skirmish before Yorktown (1781) 
(§ 90). In 1713 (Utrecht) England gained Acadia, all 
Newfoundland, and the area draining into Hudson 
Bay : beside trade advantages in the Spanish West Indies. 
In 1763 (Paris) she acquired all France's possessions in 
America except Louisiana, after several successful cam- 
paigns in the Seven Years' War. That conflict also wit- 
nessed the defeat of the French and their native allies in 
India. 

After 1763 it was necessary for Great Britain to reor- 
ganize her now greatly enlarged empire and bring her 
undisciplined American colonies under her control. By 
a series of acts, the Sugar Act (1764), the Stamp Act 
(1765), the Townshend Acts (1767), and the Repressive 
Acts (1774), she tried to tighten her grip on the colonies, 
without success. In 1775 they revolted, in 1776 declared 
themselves independent, in 1777 at Saratoga captured 
one army, and in 1781 at Yorktown captured another. 
At Paris, in 1783, the United States was recognized as 
independent and acquired all territory from the Atlantic 
to the Mississippi and from the Great Lakes to the 
Floridas. This new nation in 1781 formed a Confedera- 
tion, which was defective in many respects because it was 
based on state sovereignty, but in 1787 it organized a 
better union, made a new Constitution, and created a 
Federal State. 



Commer- 
cial wars of 
England 
and France 
(1689- 
1763). 



Great 

Britain 

and the 

United 

States 

(1763- 

1789). 



114 MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 

General References 

Hayes, Political and Social History of Modern Europe, 49-73, 
242-260, 299-341. 

Robinson and Beard, Development of Modern Europe, I, 34-49, 
68-71, 80-121. 

Seeley, The Expansion of England. 

Woodward, The Expansion of the British Empire. 

Day, History of Commerce, Chaps. XV, XVIII-XXI, XXIV. 

Yeats, Growth and Vicissitudes of Commerce, 179-291. 

Mahan, Influence of Sea Power on History. 

Andrews, C. M., in American Historical Magazine, 20 (1915), 
539-556, 761-780. 

Lecky, England in the Eighteenth Century, II, 1-23, 483-486, 
541-551, III, 290-500, IV, 1-70, 130-220, 240-289. 

Topics 

Tobacco in Virginia : Coman, Industrial History of the 
United States (rev. ed.), 56-58; Channing, History of the United 
States, I, 208-226; Fiske, Old Virginia, I, 174-177; Bruce, 
Economic History of Virginia, I, 432-457, II, 337-340; Com- 
mons and Andrews (eds.), Documentary History of American 
Economic Society, I, 186-188, 208-214, 245-251, 326-328. 

Relations between England and the Colonies before 
1763 : Ashley, American History, 128-135 ; Hart, American His- 
tory Told by Contemporaries, II, Nos. 48, 51, 53, 55, 65, 66; 
Lecky's American Revolution, 38-53 ; Russell, Review of American 
Colonial Legislation by the King in Council. 

British and French in India : Robinson and Beard, II, 87- 
100 ; Woodward, Expansion of the British Empire, 71-85, 176- 
181, 196-205; Cambridge Modern History. 

Peace of Paris (1783) : Ashley, American History, 183-185; 
Fiske, The Critical Period, 1-36 ; McLaughlin, Confederation and 
Constitution, 18-34; Lecky, American Revolution, 464-485. 

Studies 

1. Dutch Commerce. Yeats, Growth and Vicissitudes of 
Commerce, 215-225. 

2. French sugar trade. Andrews, C. M., in American 
Historical Magazine, 20 (1915), 549-551. 

3. The slave trade. Spears, Slave Trade in America. 



STRUGGLE FOR EMPIRE 115 

4. Reasons for Colonization. Cunningham, Growth of English 
Industry and Commerce in Modern Times, I, 331-341. 

5. Work of Champlain. Parkman, Struggle for a Continent, 
88-106, 120-124. 

6. French policies in Canada. Parkman, Struggle for a 
Continent, 169-173, 311-318. 

7. The Treaty of Utrecht. Robinson and Beard, Develop- 
ment of Modern Europe, I, 42-49. 

8. The West India trade. Andrews, C. M., in American 
Historical Magazine, 20 (1915), 761-767. 

9. The French in the West. Parkman, Struggle for a Con- 
tinent, 156-164 (256-264), 297-300. 

10. Capture of Quebec. Fiske, New France and New Eng- 
land, 349-359. 

11. The Stamp Act. Channing, Student's History of the 
United States (rev. ed.). 

12. The Second Continental Congress. Hart (ed.), Ameri- 
can History Told by Contemporaries, II, No. 185. 

13. The French Alliance. Van Tyne, The American Revo- 
lution, 217-226. 

14. American vs. French interest on treaty negotiations. 
Fiske, Critical Period, 17-25. 

Questions 

1. Name the different countries which contended for com- 
mercial supremacy in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth 
centuries respectively. Show the difference between the 
Portuguese and Spanish results. Explain how the North Sea 
and Newfoundland fisheries developed a merchant marine as 
well as furnished valuable articles for trade. 

2. Show the importance of fish, furs, sugar, and tobacco 
respectively in the development of trade before 1776 between 
Europe and America. Explain the nature of the Dutch trade 
before 1700 and show how England gained control of most of it. 

3. Name several motives affecting colonization and show 
how each influenced particular groups of colonies. Show how 
the struggle between Charles I and Parliament influenced the 
settlement of New England. Notice how England gained 
control of the territory between her northern and southern 
colonies and that south of Virginia. 

4. What were England's methods of governing and con- 



116 MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 

trolling the trade of her American colonies ? How did the French 
treat their colonies in the Great Lake and Mississippi basins ? 

5. Name the different conflicts in the "Second Hundred 
Years' War" between England and France; give causes, im- 
portant event or events, and results of each. 

6. What was the nature of the trade gained by England 
through the Treaty of Utrecht with the Spanish West Indies ? 

7. Show how the French occupied the Mississippi basin, 
how the English gained control of Quebec and Canada, and 
how England gained advantages over France in India. Give 
provisions and show importance of the Peace of Paris, 1763. 

8. Compare methods used by England before 1763 (ques- 
tion 4) with those adopted by Great Britain after that date. 
Discuss each of the four steps in the development of the new 
colonial policy after 1763. 

9. Show that independence from Great Britain and union 
of the colonies necessarily took place at the same time. De- 
scribe the military events of each of the three periods of the war. 
Show how events in Europe and particularly in England gave 
us a favorable peace treaty in 1783. 

10. Explain the nature of American government under the 
Confederation, showing its main defect and naming several 
specific defects. Describe the government under the present 
Constitution. Name several important contributions of the 
United States to the world and explain each as fully as possible. 



CHAPTER V 
REFORM 

Beginnings of Modern Treatment of Crime 

94. Crime in England. — The rights of the common Numerous 
people under the law depended (1) upon the liberty or offe ^ ls 1 ! !S hl 
bondage of the individual, and (2) upon the laws dealing by death, 
with crime. We have already discussed personal freedom 
under the subjects of serfdom and villeinage (§§ 7, 8). 
In some ages it has been considered a crime for a peasant 
or common man to protect himself or his family ; in others 
the common man has had comparatively few rights which 
the law respected and the government protected. When 
we observe that in England in the middle of the eight- 
eenth century no fewer than one hundred and sixty 
crimes were punishable by death, we should imagine that 
the government was little interested in the welfare of 
the common people. 

The reason for so many severe laws undoubtedly was the City watch- 
great amount of lawlessness in England before the nine- ™ enand 
teenth century. In the London of Queen Anne and the problems, 
first Georges the streets were little safer than they were 
in the Middle Ages. 1 Even when robbers and highway- 
men, not to say murderers, did not disturb the chance 
traveler, the " young bloods " returning from a dance 
or a frolic were ready for mischief such as we do not toler- 
ate even on Hallowe'en or other festive occasions. The 
streets were patrolled by watchmen, but these men were 

1 E. E. c, § 553. 
117 



118 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Highway 
robbers and 
smuggling. 



Effect of 
the new- 
guard and 
street gas 
lights. 



Methods of 

arresting 

offenders. 



usually feeble old pensioners who did little but walk the 
streets and call the hours. When not actively engaged 
in duty, these old watchmen were likely to fall asleep in 
their boxes. It was a favorite pastime of the " young 
bloods " to overturn the boxes if the watchmen had 
fallen asleep inside. Peace-loving burghers were terror- 
ized by gangs of young rowdies, who took picturesque 
names, such as the Mohawks. 

On the roads outside of the cities, travelers were likely 
to be held up by highwaymen of the Dick Turpin type. 
Along the seacoast, fishermen and other inhabitants 
made a business of smuggling from the seacoast towns 
of France or the Netherlands. Since the moral sentiment 
of practically all seacoast communities favored this, 
the government had great difficulty in breaking up the 
gangs. 

About 1750 the large English cities replaced the old 
watch by a new guard of younger, athletic policemen. 
The new guardsmen made the streets much quieter and 
safer. The most effective restraint upon crime in the 
streets, however, was the introduction, at the close of the 
eighteenth century, of illuminating gas for street lighting. 
It made the detection of offenders much easier. 

95. Treatment of Criminal Offenders. — The English 
system of trying offenders was very much more modern 
than that in use on the Continent. An accused person 
was arrested openly by a police officer and on a warrant. 1 
In France on the contrary an arrest might be by lettres de 
cachet (caa-shay'). These letters were private statements 
made by a person of influence. They provided that an 
offender of good social position could be arrested without 
publicity ; they also permitted men secretly to put their 
enemies in prison. 

1 Notice the opposition of James Otis to the use of general search 
warrants in America. Ashley, American History, § 122. 



TREATMENT OF CRIME 



119 



While awaiting trial, the person accused of crime was imprison- 



ment of 
accused 



kept in a loathsome dungeon. Unless his crime was 
punishable by death, even in England he had no attorney persons and 
to represent him. Before 1679 he could not claim sue- ^^n? ™ 
cessfully the privilege of habeas corpus, although after the 
Revolution of 1688 this writ was obtained more easily. 
Frequently it was difficult for a person awaiting trial, or 
even for a witness who was held in prison, to obtain bail. 




Newgate Prison, Eighteenth Century 



In France and in other countries on the Continent 
there was no provision for quick trial, and the person 
who was accused of crime was usually tortured before the 
trial was held. He might be subjected to intense heat 
or have water poured into his stomach and lungs. He 
might be held up by the thumbs or tortured on the rack. 
He might even have his bones broken by the jailer and 
afterward be bound to a cart wheel. There was no bail, 
and witnesses as well as accused persons were usually 
kept in prison. 

96. Trials in England and on the Continent. — When 
a man was accused of crime in England, there was an 
open trial before a jury, but the defendant was held to be 
guilty until his innocence was proved. Fairness requires 
it to be said that English juries usually refused to con- 



Treatment 

before a 
trial of 
persons 
accused 
of crime 
on the 
Continent. 



Trials and 
punish- 
ments in 
England. 



120 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



vict persons of minor crimes if the penalty was death ; 
thus many laws providing for capital punishment were 
nullified. Often too the jury declared the prisoner guilty, 
not of the offense of which he was charged, but of a similar 
charge for which there was lighter punishment. For the 
death penalty, transportation to an English colony was 
sometimes substituted — first to America, later to Aus- 




Bow Street Police Court 



Secret con- 
tinental 
trials. 



Torture in 
trials: old 
uses and 
abolition. 



tralia or Tasmania. Until 1783 the execution of a 
criminal was the scene of a procession and celebration, 
a cortege much desired by criminals who sought noto- 
riety. 

On the Continent trials were secret. Witnesses were 
examined secretly; occasionally even they were subjected 
to torture. The trial occurred before a judge, not a jury, 
and the prosecutors did not give the prisoner a real 
chance to meet his accusers or to know the evidence 
presented against him. 

97. The Abolishment of Torture. — Many reformers 
had preached against the use of torture, but Frederick 
the Great of Prussia was the first to abolish it in connec- 



TREATMENT OF CRIME 



121 



tion with trials. In other countries torture as a means 
of extracting evidence before a trial was discontinued 
about the same time. Later it was abandoned altogether, 
in France and Austria before 1800, in Spain and Italy 
during the nineteenth century. The abolition of torture 
was a reform largely influenced by Bec-ca-ri'a. 

Beccaria (1738-1794) was an Italian reformer who 
argued that the object of imposing penalties for crime 
was the protection of society rather than the punishment 
of the offender. He advocated light penalties, maintain- 
ing that people are deterred from crime more by the cer- 
tainty than by the severity of the punishment. He 
urged that every man accused of crime should be treated 
as innocent until he had been proved guilty and declared 
that secret trials were unjust and unsuccessful, therefore 
all trials should be public. 

98. Howard and Prison Reform. — The prisons of the 
eighteenth century were used comparatively little for the 
punishment of convicts ; 
they were filled chiefly with 
debtors, persons accused 
of crime, and witnesses. 
They were dark and fre- 
quently were underground. 
So unsanitary were most 
prisons that a special form 
of disease called jail fever 
was prevalent. Prisoners 
were herded together with- 
out regard to age, sex, or 
the nature of their offense, 
and they were dependent 
for food upon jailers who 
refused to give it to them unless bribes were paid. 

Many people had realized the inhumane conditions of 




John Howard 



Writing of 
Beccaria 
on penal 
reform. 



Objection- 
able char- 
acter of the 
eighteenth 
century- 
English 
prison. 



122 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Work of 

John 

Howard 

and 

Elizabeth 

Fry. 



prison life and treatment, but nothing was done until 
John Howard, himself a jailer, demanded reform of the 
worst abuses. Howard visited not only most of the jails 
of England but many of those on the Continent. He 
worked unceasingly for the improvement of the prisons 
and for a more humane and sensible treatment of the 
prisoners. Through his efforts Parliament was induced 
to pass laws which provided for reform penitentiaries, 




Elizabeth Fry Reading to Women in Prison 

but the first laws remained a dead letter, especially after 
the death of Howard. In the. next century Elizabeth 
Fry spent many years teaching inmates of English prisons 
and working among them. She did much to improve the 
condition of the prisons of that country. In America 
and also on the Continent, after 1830 the prisons were 
decidedly better than those of the eighteenth century. 

Social and Religious Changes 

The debtor 99. Problems of Poverty. — As already noted, a large 
andpnson. num b er f ^ e i nma tes of prisons were debtors. Such 



SOCIAL CHANGES 123 

imprisonment, however, did much to injure debtors and 
little to help them. Although debtors were kept in prison 
until their debts were paid, prison life offered no good 
opportunity for earning money with which to pay off in- 
debtedness. In short, the prison methods of the eight- 
eenth century failed either to discourage crime or to 
reduce poverty. 

As we shall see later (§§ 183-185), there was at this Condition 
time a great transformation in English agriculture which °. f vanous 

° 11 classes. 

caused distress and pauperism. When the commons and 
waste lands were inclosed, most of the cotters who had 
lived on those fields in a tiny hut or cottage surrounded 
by a garden plot were deprived of their homes and of the 
opportunity to keep a shack and some chickens or to 
raise food in a garden. Some became day laborers ; some 
went to the new industrial towns ; some became public 
charges. The lot of many of the old tenant farmers or 
freemen was worse at the end of the century than at the 
beginning, for they were now quite unable to eke out a 
living. Before the invention of new spinning and weaving 
machines (§§ 187, 188), they had spun yarn and woven 
cloth at odd times in their homes. When the new fac- 
tories were opened, they were deprived of these employ- 
ments, which had helped to give them a decent standard 
of living. Although some of them went to factory 
towns, many were obliged to apply to the poor-relief 
authorities for help. 

An attempt was made at this time to modify the Eng- increase in 
lish poor laws, 1 in order to help those classes which were t] ? e volume 
in dire need. Since prices were very high, it became the relief. 
custom 2 to give to all families which did not earn a living 
wage such an additional sum as was absolutely necessary 
for their support. Human nature will not withstand 
much temptation, and the results of this may easily be 

1 E. E. C, § 715. * Speenhamland system, 1795. 



124 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



New public 
interest and 
reforms. 



The fight 

against 

smallpox. 



Improve- 
ments in 
surgery and 
medicine. 



imagined. The poor rates increased fivefold from 1750 
to 1800 and fivefold again from 1800 to the enactment 
of the new poor law in 1834 (§ 000). 

100. Practical Philanthropy. — Since people were grow- 
ing more humane and were discussing and thinking much 
about the rights of man, a great deal more was attempted 
through private charity in the last half of the eighteenth 
century than in earlier ages. In former times most de- 
pendents had been huddled together in the almshouses, 
aged and children, men and women, the blind and 
the diseased. Now there were established a number 
of orphan asylums which cared for children who would 
otherwise have been sent to the almshouses. Charity 
schools were frequently provided by philanthropists for 
the education of these and other poor children. A num- 
ber of hospitals were to be found in the large cities, es- 
pecially London and Paris. It. cannot be said of these 
institutions that they were well managed or that their 
methods were modern or successful, but they were cer- 
tainly better than none. 

101. Improved Sanitation. — Nowadays epidemics are 
almost unknown, but in the eighteenth century epidemics 
of children's diseases were the rule, and severe epidemics 
of smallpox, cholera, and the plague were not exceptional. 
In order to fight the worst curse of all, that of smallpox, 
use was made of inoculation. This inoculation of the 
patient with smallpox was practiced with little children 
because the disease is light with them, but it was also 
used somewhat with adults. After 1796, when Jenner 
developed a system of inoculation with cowpox, this 
dreadful scourge became less common. 

The control of epidemics was influenced greatly both 
by improvements in the treatment of disease and in sani- 
tation. At the beginning of the eighteenth century the 
practice of surgery was almost entirely in the hands of 



SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS CHANGES 125 

the barbers. The physician looked down upon the sur- 
geon and continued to do so even in later years when the 
surgeon, no longer a barber-practitioner, was better 
educated than the physician. There were, of course, 
some improvements in the practice of medicine. 

Some stress was placed upon greater cleanliness of improve- 
person and the home. That sanitation was not improved ments m 

r ^ sanita- 

as much as it should have been is shown by the very tion. 
high death rate of English towns until 1850. In some cases 
the annual death rate went above fifty per thousand, 
although that of the average American city to-day 
is below fifteen per thousand. Even in London the 
death rate was higher than the birth rate. Growth of 
towns depended entirely on migration from country to 
city. 

102. Suppression of the Jesuits. — An important Nature of 
change of the later eighteenth century affected the reli- ofj ea u C 3 iety 
gious body known as Jesuits. This order, starting at the 
time of the Reformation, was well disciplined, thorough, 
and successful for many years. As time passed the 
Jesuits grew wealthier and more powerful. They wielded 
much influence in the church, and therefore did not al- 
ways enjoy the full confidence of the secular clergy. Not 
only did they have numerous and excellent schools, but 
they exercised much political power. Again and again it 
happened that a Jesuit pupil became king and that a 
Jesuit priest was thought to be the " power behind the 
throne." 

In many cases the Jesuits had earned the dislike of Action 
other church officials, of nobles and kings, and of mer- tak ? a L t , 

. ° 7 against the 

chant burghers in the growing cities. Naturally they Jesuits. 
aroused the envy of those classes that desired their power 
or the business which they were said to have in Europe 
and in America. Their enemies were exceedingly active 
and determined to suppress the order. The Society of 



126 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Jesus was abolished in Portugal in 1759, and within a few 
years its members were expelled from France, Spain, 
and other countries of Europe. In 1773 the Pope was 
persuaded to suppress the order, but in October, 1814, 
it was reestablished. 



Philos- 
ophers and 
Economists. 



Influence 
exercised 
by these 
writers. 



Reform Philosophers 

103. Names and Work of the Philosophers. — The re- 
form movement of the late eighteenth century was in- 
fluenced greatly by a number of philosophers, among 
whom the Frenchmen Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot, and 
Rousseau were most important. It was also influenced 
by the work of the new economists, especially Quesnay 
and Adam Smith. 

When people read the writings of these men they 
understood better why the absolute monarchy was ob- 
jectionable and why the existing privileges of nobles 
and clergy were unfair. Over the benevolent despots 
(§§ 107-109) they exercised considerable influence, because 
several of the enlightened rulers of Europe tried to put 
into practice some of the reforms advocated by the 
philosophers. We must not imagine that they caused or 
greatly influenced the French Revolution. As expressed 
by an able American historian, " The great French writers 
of the eighteenth century exercised by their works a 
smaller influence on the outbreak and actual course of 
the French Revolution than has been generally supposed. 
The causes of the movement were chiefly economical and 
political, not philosophical." l 

104. Montesquieu and Voltaire. — The earliest of these 
French philosophers was Montesquieu (Mon-tes-qui-a'). 
In 1748 he published his most famous book, the " Spirit 
of Laws." In this volume he called attention to the 



Stephens, Revolutionary Europe, p. 9. 



REFORM PHILOSOPHERS 



127 



many excellences of the British constitution and govern- 
ment. He particularly urged the value of separating 
the executive, legislative, and judicial departments of 
government, asserting that the excellence of the British 
system was due in large part to this separation of powers. 
His doctrines were accepted as true, and practiced not 
only by the American statesmen who established our own 
government, but by the French writers and politicians 
connected with the French Revolution. 

The ablest and most influential of the reform philos- 
ophers was Voltaire. As a young man Voltaire had spent 
several years in England ; he 
was thoroughly interested in 
the freedom allowed English 
men and impressed by the 
superiority of English institu 
tions over those of the French. 
Because of his criticisms of 
French society, his " Letters 
on the English" was burned 
publicly. Later he spent a few 
years in the court of Frederick 
the Great and undoubtedly had 
an influence on the reforms 
inaugurated by that Prussian 
monarch (§ 69). Through- 
out his long career he was a severe critic of the established 
order as it existed in his day and particularly of the in- 
stitution of that day, the church, which he thought inter- 
fered most with the adoption of reforms and new ideas. 
"The reforms which Voltaire especially desired were in- 
dividual liberty, the equalization of the burdens of taxa- 
tion, the abolition of serfdom, the suppression of feudal 
dues, and the organization of public education." His 
wit, his abhorrence of injustice, his fearlessness in attack- 




VOL-TAIRE 



Doctrine 
of separa- 
tion of 
depart- 
ments of 
govern- 
ment. 



Ideas and 
experiences 
of Voltaire. 



128 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Nature of 
the Ency- 
clopedia. 



Rousseau 
and the 
return to 
nature. 



Opposition 
to the mer- 
cantilist 
doctrines. 



ing evils in high places or low gave him a place at the 
head of the reformers of his day. 

105. The Encyclopedists and Rousseau. — Soon after 
the middle of the eighteenth century a group of reform 
writers published a series of nearly thirty volumes, entitled 
the Encyclopedia. Although many of the articles were 
exceedingly moderate in tone, a very large number of 
them embodied the reform ideas of the editor, Diderot 
(Did-e-ro'), and of other reform philosophers. In other 
words, they exposed to ridicule the outworn institutions 
of that day, they called attention to abuses of privileges, 
and criticized the arbitrary powers exercised by absolute 
monarchs. They explained the principles of the new 
science and discussed, in great detail with numerous illus- 
trations, many processes of manufacture. 

In his " Social Contract," Rousseau (Roo-so') contended 
that in early political society men had lived in a state of 
nature, that they had granted the right to rule them to 
leaders who had extended their powers until they had 
enslaved the people. In a volume on education Rousseau 
contended that men should return to nature and should 
be as natural as possible in learning and in governing 
themselves. 

106. The Physiocrats and Adam Smith. — We have 
already noted the doctrines of the mercantilists whose 
followers influenced Colbert (§ 56) and other statesmen. 
They favored a policy of restricting imports in order to 
increase the wealth of the country, particularly by en- 
larging its supply of gold and silver. In the eighteenth 
century there arose a group of philosophers who were 
interested in economics ; they were known as the physio- 
crats. Prominent among them were Quesnay (Kes'nay), 
who contended that agriculture is far more important 
than any other industry, therefore government should be 
supported by a single tax upon land and agriculture. 



REFORM PHILOSOPHERS 129 

Other economists of that day who opposed the pater- 
nalistic policy of the mercantilists 1 advocated the opposite, 
" the let alone policy/' which is usually associated with 
the expression " Laissez faire et laissez passer." " Free 
trade " in England (§ 000) applied these principles. 

Far abler and more influential than any of the French The first 
economists was the English writer on economics, Adam modern . 

' economist, 

Smith. In 1776, the year in which the United States Adam 
became independent of Great Britain, Adam Smith pub- Smith - 
lished his work entitled " The Wealth of Nations." Smith 
was opposed to the general policies of the mercantilists 
and therefore objected to artificial restrictions upon for- 
eign commerce which interfered with agriculture or indus- 
try. Not only did he favor a freer trade than had ever 
been permitted between modern nations, but he explained 
the principles underlying economics with such skill that 
he really created a new science. Most writers on eco- 
nomics since that day owe a great debt to Adam Smith. 

The Enlightened Despots 

107. Benevolent Despotism. — In the years before the Increasing 
French Revolution important changes were occurring in a ^Q 0tlsm 
different countries not only in the spread of reform ideas panied by 
but in the actual relief from abuses, for kings as well as 
people were interested in reform, 2 and on the continent social 
of Europe the monarchs were absolute. Each had sum- reform - 
cient authority to carry most of his plans into effect 
to increase his territories and his power at home as well 
as to make extensive reforms. If he was public spirited 
and understood the trend of the age, he tried to unite his 
people, he reformed his laws, he attacked the worst abuses 

1 E. E. C, § 727. 

2 The map of Europe was undergoing changes as well. Notice espe- 
cially the partitions of Poland (§ 65). 

K 



some im- 
portant 



130 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Names of 
the most 
important 
despots. 



Need of 
reform 
in 1750. 



Feudal 
and legal 
reforms. 



in the church, and he abolished the greatest hardships'of 
the serfs. Naturally these despots did not give to the 
people a greater share in the government than they had 
had before. In fact they took away many local assem- 
blies and privileges, for they wished the king to be all- 
powerful. 

Not in one country, but all over continental Europe 
did these changes occur, especially in the lands of the 
most prominent enlightened despots, Frederick II of 
Prussia (§ 69), Catherine II of Russia (§ 64), and Joseph 
II of Austria. • 

108. Reform of Old Privileges. — In practically all 
continental countries at the middle of the eighteenth cen- 
tury some medieval customs and usages survived in the 
form of privileges. It is customary to speak of this epoch 
as that of the " ancien regime " (ray-zheme'), and we shall 
study its main features in France before the Great Rev- 
olution (§§ 111-119). No benevolent despot abolished 
many of the old abuses, for those who had privileges 
were tenacious of their rights. 

Some of the reforms made by these despots modified 
feudalism as it existed in the early eighteenth century. 
Occasionally feudal dues and serfdom 1 were abolished, 
but usually the arbitrary orders of the absolute mon- 
archs did little more than lighten the worst feudal burdens. 2 
In Prussia and in France a considerable number of old 
local tolls were abolished (§ 15). This action encouraged 
trade between different districts. In harmony with the 

1 Frederick the Great of Prussia abolished serfdom on the Prussian 
royal lands (§ 69). Neither Frederick nor Catherine II of Russia were 
able to help the serfs on the land of the nobles. 

2 In Sar-din'i-a, the most important kingdom of northern Italy, 
many old feudal abuses were destroyed. In his Austrian lands and to 
some extent in his other domains, Joseph II abolished feudal services 
and burdens. In France, Turgot (Tur-go'), minister of Louis XVI, 
lowered the cost of carrying grain from one district to another. He 
abolished forced labor of the peasants on roads. 



ENLIGHTENED DESPOTS 



131 



teachings of Beccaria, torture was abolished in Prussia 
and in one or two other countries. All of the benevolent 
despots sought to unify the laws of their countries. 
Catherine II's attempt to codify the laws of Russia was 
unsuccessful ; however, Frederick II was fortunate, for 
he not only introduced many new reforms but practically 
completed a code of the Prussian law (§ 69). We must 
not imagine, however, that the national law in any coun- 
try did away with the local laws and customs ; they sur- 
vived everywhere in conti- 
nental Europe, differing in 
each community and prov- 
ince (§ 112). 

109. Joseph II as an En- 
lightened Despot. — We have 
already considered the be- 
nevolent despotism of Cath- 
erine of Russia and of Fred- 
erick the Great. Neither of 
these, however, was the 
typical enlightened despot. 
That title belongs to Joseph 
II of Austria, Emperor from 
1765 to 1790. Joseph II 
was a student of the reform 

philosophers, was very much influenced by the reform 
spirit of his age, and was anxious to unite his heterogeneous 
races into a united people. He attempted too many things 
at the same time, and, as Frederick the Great said, he 
always did the second thing before he did the first. 1 

1 One historian gives the following summary of Joseph's reforms : 
He desired "to consolidate all his domains into one homogeneous whole ; 
to abolish all privileges and exclusive rights ; to obliterate the boundaries 
of nations and substitute for them a mere administrative division of his 
whole Empire ; to merge all nationalities and establish a uniform code 
of justice ; to raise the mass of the community to legal equality with their 




Joseph II of Austria 



132 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



CHRONOLOGICAL 



GENERAL EUROPEAN 



1618 Beginning of 

Thirty Years' 
War 



1648 



Peace of 
phalia 



West- 



1640 



DIFFERENT 
EUROPEAN 
COUNTRIES 



Gustavus Adolphus 
(Sweden) 

The Great Elector 

(Prussia) 



FRANCE 



1643 Louis XIV 



1682 



Great 



Coalitions under 
William of 

Orange against 
Louis XIV 

1701 War of Spanish 
Succession 

1713 Treaty of Utrecht 



1740 War of the Aus- 
trian Succession 



1756 Seven Years' War 



1763 Treaty of Paris 



1740 
1740 



1762 



1765 



Peter the 
(Russia) 



Charles XII 
(Sweden) 



Frederick the Great 

(Prussia) 
Maria Theresa 
(Austria) 



Catharine II 
(Russia) 



1685 
1689 



Joseph II 
(Emperor) 



1763 



Rule of Colbert 
Revocation of Edict 

of Nantes 
Beginning of Second 

Hundred Years' 

War 



1715 Death of Louis 
XIV 
Law's Mississippi 
Bubble 



French lose colonial 
possessions 



1778 Revolutionary War 1779 Siege of Gibraltar 
1783 Peace of Paris 



Turgot 

Necker 

1787 Assembly of Not- 
1789 States-General 



AGE OF ABSOLUTISM 



133 



TABLE 



ENGLAND 
1603 James I 
1628 Petition of Right 



REST OF WORLD 

1607 Jamestown 

1620 Plymouth 

1629 Great Migration to New England 



1635 Ship Money 

1642 Civil War 

1649 Commonwealth 

1653 Protectorate 



1660 Restoration 



1688 Glorious Revolution 



French explorations in America 
Russians in Siberia 

1686 Dominion of New England 
1689 Revolutions in America 
Queen Anne's War 



1715 George T 

Walpole prime minister 



English in India 

Contests between governors and 
people in America 



1757 William Pitt prime minister 



1763 New imperial policy 

Building up party of KiDg's 
Friends 

1774 Policy of repression 

1775 War with colonies 

1778 War with France 

1784 Restoration of Cabinet Gov- 
ernment 



1757 Plassey (battle, India) 

1759 Quebec (siege, America) 

1763 French lose America and Indi 

1765 Stamp Act troubles 

1775 Second Continental Congress 

1776 Declaration of Independence 

1777 Saratoga (battle) 

1781 Yorktown (siege) 
Confederation 

1787 Constitutional Convention 

1789 Inauguration of Washington 



134 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Limitation 
of provin- 
cial rights 
and 

attempts to 
consolidate 
Austrian 
possessions. 



Result of 

Joseph's 

reforms. 



Maria Theresa, mother of Joseph, had used her absolute 
authority to destroy many privileges of the provincial 
diets ; she brought the provinces under control through 
royal representatives sent out from Vienna. Joseph not 
only attempted to take away what remained of the 
powers of the diets, but he also attempted to consolidate 
his territory into a single state organized into districts 
which were to be governed from Vienna. As we know 
that even in the twentieth century Austria is not a united 
state and that each race still has its own usages and 
customs and desires independent government (§§ 000-000), 
we can easily understand that Joseph II failed completely 
to unite his dominions. 

Since Joseph attempted to interfere with the privileges 
of the nobles and clergy, 1 both of these powerful orders 
opposed his policies. Naturally no monarch, however 
absolute, could bring about in a few years reforms which 
the people did not want, and for which there was no 
preparation ; reforms which did not take into account 
old prejudices, established customs, and differences of 
race, language, and belief. The work of Joseph was 
therefore doomed to failure and he died a disappointed 
man. Two of his reforms, however, were permanent and 
important ; he abolished serfdom, and also feudal tenure, 
in the distinctively Austrian lands. 



former masters ; to constitute a uniform level of democratic simplicity 
under his own absolute sway." 

1 In order to make himself real ruler in Austria, it was necessary 
for Joseph to reduce the influence and power of the Pope over his 
people. The Emperor therefore temporarily granted toleration to all 
religions, and he allowed Protestants to have their own churches and 
schools. He abolished many convents and monasteries and tried to bring 
the Catholic bishops under royal authority. Fearing the influence of 
these changes, the Pope visited Vienna, where he was treated with 
extreme courtesy, but Joseph practically kept him a prisoner and decided 
who should visit his Holiness. 



ENLIGHTENED DESPOTS 135 



General References 

Bourne, The Revolutionary Period in Europe, 33-61. 
Hassall, The Balance of Power, 280-297, 350-393. 
Robinson and Beard, Development of Modern Europe, I, 157-195. 
Sydney, England and the English in the Eighteenth Century, 
2 vols. 

Traill and Mann (eds.), Social England, V. 
Lacroix, France in the Eighteenth Century. 

Topics 

Punishment of Offenders on the Continent : Lowell, 
Eve of the French Revolution, 110-118; Lea, Superstition and 
Force, Chapter X; Lacroix, France in the Eighteenth Century, 
284-311. 

Charity in France : Lacroix, France in the Eighteenth Cen- 
tury, 267-284: Hugon, Social France in the Eighteenth Century, 
167-197. 

Voltaire : Robinson and Beard, Development of Modern 
Europe, I, 168-172; Morley, Voltaire; Lowell, Eve of the French 
Revolution, 51-69: Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Voltaire." 

Studies 

1. Lawlessness in England. Sydney, England and the Eng- 
lish in the Eighteenth Century, 192-216. 

2. The work of John Howard. Traill and Mann (eds.), 
Social England, V, 656-664. 

3. French education. Lacroix, France in the Eighteenth 
Century, 241-267. 

4. Industrial changes and paupers in England. Traill and 
Mann (eds.), Social England, V, 454-460. 

5. Kitchen and table. Lacroix, France in the Eighteenth 
Century, 367-387. 

6. French theaters. Lacroix, France in the Eighteenth Cen- 
tury, 387-415. 

7. Improvements in surgery. Traill and Mann (eds.), 
Social England, V, 569-573. 

8. Eighteenth century treatment of smallpox. Traill and 
Mann (eds.), Social England, 580-584. 

9. Suppression of the Jesuits. Hassall, The Balance of 
Power, 290-297. 



136 MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 

10. Joseph II. Hassall, The Balance of Power, 350-358. 

11. The "Encyclopedia." Lowell, Eve of the French Revolu- 
tion, 243-260. 

Questions 

1. Make a table comparing the offenses, methods of trying 
cases, and methods of punishment in England and on the Con- 
tinent. 

2. What forms of torture were used in Europe and for what 
purposes? How many of the principles advocated by Beccaria 
are practiced at the present time ? Who was Howard and what 
did he do for the reform of the eighteenth century prisons? 

3. How were problems of poverty treated in England before 
1790? What was the Speenhamland system, and why was it 
opposed? To what extent did the eighteenth century de- 
velop successful philanthropic methods? What improvements 
had been developed for fighting epidemics? What progress 
had been made in the practice of surgery? To what extent 
was there improved sanitation before 1800? Compare in each 
case with present day methods. 

4. What powers were exercised by the Jesuits? Why were 
they disliked by other church officials? by nobles and kings? 
by merchant burghers? 

5. Why were there reform philosophers in the last half of 
the ^eighteenth century ? Why were most of these French or 
connected with France ? What does the world owe to Voltaire ? 
to Rousseau? to the Encyclopedists? to Adam Smith? 

6. Explain these terms : encyclopedists, benevolent despot- 
ism, separation of departments of government, social compact 
or contract, single tax, laissez faire, protection.] Why were 
there benevolent despots in the last half of the eighteenth cen- 
tury? Name three, show that each was despotic and de- 
scribe also some phase of their enlightened rule. Before the 
Great War, were any European rulers despotic? To what extent 
were they benevolent despots ? 

7. Enumerate the most important reforms which were made 
in the latter part of the eighteenth century? Name reforms 
which Joseph II undertook, and explain as fully as possible 
why he failed as a reformer. 



PART II 

THE AGE OF REVOLUTION (1789-1849) 



137 



138 MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 





I'll iMlli • : 




CHAPTER VI 

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 

110. The Beginning of a New Europe. — The old Impossibil- 
regime as it was in France and in other countries of the * ty ° f . 

° . . destroying 

Continent after the middle of the eighteenth century no the old 
longer exists in Europe. So long had it lasted, so great ^ glme h 
was its power, so firm was its determination to keep its reform, 
privileges that it could not be overthrown by peaceful 
reform. Only revolution could free Europe from the old 
regime. In France, where there was no benevolent despot 
and reforms were incomplete, the overthrow was sudden 
and complete. We call this great change, probably 
" the greatest turning point as yet discernible in modern 
history," the French Revolution. 

The work of the French Revolution was not limited The work 
to France. The spirit that led the French people to Yrlnth 
abolish the old regime in France led them also to attempt Revoiu- 
self-government as a nation — -the first French Republic, i 101 !'^, 

° ^ first, under 

It led them to offer aid to other peoples in their struggle Napoleon, 
for the " liberty, equality, fraternity " which was the f n t ^ in 
motto of the French Revolution. It led them to support lutions. 
their great leader, Napoleon Bonaparte, in his conquests 
and reforms outside of France. The example of these 
enthusiastic French republicans caused other European 
peoples to demand the reform of abuses and the abolition 
of privileges. By the French Revolution a new era of 
world history was ushered in, an era that, within a few 
decades, brought to central Europe a very considerable 

139 



140 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Distinction 
between the 
French 
Revolution 
and the 
Reign of 
Terror. 



Old abuses 
and new 
usurpa ■ 
tions. 



The old 
regime in 
different 
countries. 



degree of national unity, constitutional government, and 
personal liberty. 

The French Revolution is not to be confused with the 
Reign of Terror (§ 137). The Revolution was a wide- 
spread movement which completely reorganized France; 
the Reign of Terror, a brief experience in severe govern- 
ment. The Revolution, moreover, began as a protest, 
not against bad government nor against poor financiering, 
but against the privileges of the old regime. What those 
privileges were, what the old regime was, we shall now 
notice briefly. 

The Old Regime in France 

111. Feudal and Monarchical Character of the Old 
Regime. — ■ As indicated above, the name " old regime " 
is applied to the order of things which existed before the 
French Revolution. Although several centuries had 
elapsed since the Feudal Age, a great many essential 
features of the medieval Church and of feudal govern- 
ment survived in the eighteenth century. Even more 
old privileges of the clergy and nobles persisted. The 
" ancien regime" was not only medieval in character; it 
was also monarchical, since the ruler in each country 
was an absolute monarch or a despot. 

These conditions existed to a limited extent in England 
and Holland ; consequently the old regime cannot be 
studied in those countries. In France it survived chiefly 
in the form of social and economic privileges. 1 In the 
rest of western and central Europe it included not only 
political rights for the upper classes but serfdom 2 for most 
of the people. 

112. Extent of National Development in France. — 
During the Middle Ages France was not a country in 
which every one fought for the same suzerain, or lived 

i Cf. §§ 116, 117. 2 Cf. § 8. 



THE OLD REGIME 141 

under the same laws, or were entitled to the same rights. Consolida- 
France was a kingdom with a feudal king who really tl0n . of the 
ruled only his own royal domain. 1 By the time of the power in 
Renaissance, the kings had gained many absolute powers ; France - 
until the eighteenth century they continued to become 
more absolute and arbitrary. This united the French 
because it brought them under a strong central govern- 
ment. 

During the Middle Ages there was no French nation. Growing 
The Hundred Years' War helped to unite the people, ^f n y c] f the 
especially when Joan of Arc led them against the English people. 
invaders. In the eighteenth century it might be said 
that the French were not only more intelligent than al- 
most any other race in Europe, but that they had more 
interests in common. In other words they were united, 
for France was beginning to be a real nation. 

113. Lack of Uniformity in France. — We would natu- Dissimilar- 
rally suppose that a people who form a nation and have ^ ies in 
an absolute monarch would not have many different 
types and kinds of local government and laws. But in 
France the traveler found very numerous and important 
differences as he journeyed from Paris to the remote 
provinces. 

Before 1789 France was divided into provinces. In Provincial 
the older provinces the government and laws were more pri TH®| es 
or less uniform. In those which had been added to the ences. 
kingdom during the four hundred years preceding the 
French Revolution, there were assemblies which had the 
right to levy their own taxes. These provinces had 
other special privileges which were not enjoyed by the 
old provinces. 

Not only did certain provinces have special privileges Survival of 
but throughout France each locality had its own set of 1 se ^ ofl ^ cal 
customs, laws, and officials, and each was governed ac- courts. 

1 E. E. C, § 598. 



142 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Absolutism 
in France. 



Centralized 
adminis- 
tration 
through the 
royal coun- 
cil and the 
intendants. 



The land 
tax and 
the burden 
of the 
peasants. 



cording to local custom. There was not one law in 
France ; there were more than three hundred sets of local 
customs and regulations. An act that was a crime in 
one town might be treated very differently in each of 
the neighboring villages. Besides the hundreds of sets 
of local customs, there were tens of thousands of courts, 
the survivals of the old feudal courts. 1 Although the 
people of France did not yet form a real nation, they 
objected to these differences. 

114. The Government of France. — We call the French 
king an absolute ruler, since he made laws or regula- 
tions arbitrarily, believed that he ruled by " divine 
right," and therefore considered himself above the law, 
as did James II of England (§ 36) ; yet we can see from 
the preceding section that his power was limited to some 
degree by the rights and privileges of many local govern- 
ments and by the many hundred systems of law. 

The real work of governing France was done, not by 
the king or by the local governments, but by a royal 
council for the central government and by intendants for 
local affairs. The royal council consisted of forty 
members ; it looked after the finances, the maintenance 
of order, and a hundred other matters. France was 
divided into twenty-four districts, over each of which 
was placed an intendant appointed by the crown. These 
intendants enforced the laws ; in addition they, with their 
assistants, gave permits for the building of houses, the 
sale of cattle, the holding of celebrations, and many 
other affairs. So extensive was their power that they 
were popularly known as the " Thirty Tyrants." 

115. Taxation. — In order to support these govern- 
ments and the extravagant court of the king, numerous 
taxes were levied. Several of these were strongly dis- 
liked by the people, particularly the salt tax (ga-belle'), 

' ,i E. E. C, §§ 479, 490. 



THE OLD REGIME 



143 



the land tax (taille, ta'y), and the road tax (cor-vee'). 
Although the church owned about one fifth of the land 
in France and the king and nobles owned about as much 
more, neither the clergy nor the nobility paid any of 
the land taxes. The burden upon the peasants was 




Mediterranean 
Sea 



WILLIAMS ENG,C0.,N.Y. 

Region of the French Great Salt Tax 



therefore very heavy. In consequence, throughout 
France we find the common people living in apparent 
poverty in order that their land tax might be as light as 
possible. The repairs on houses were neglected, and the 
yards were left in poor condition, even though, in rooms at 
the rear which the tax assessor did not visit, there might 
be mahogany furniture or fine Se'vres china. In spite 
of these attempts to evade taxation, writers have con- 
tended that the land tax took from the peasants nearly 
one half of the produce of the average farm. 

More objectionable than the land tax was the hated The hated 
corvee, which consisted of forced labor on the roads or on road tax * 



144 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Income tax 
and indirect 
taxes that 
were 
"farmed." 



Existence 
of local 
tolls and 
octroi 
taxes. 



public works. The lord l or the local officials might demand 
the services of the people or their ox teams at any time, 
even when seed must be planted or crops must be harvested. 

The clergy and the nobles were exempt from these 
taxes, but the nobles paid their share of an income tax 
called the " twentieth " which was levied upon each town 
or community. There was in addition another tax 
called the capitation or poll tax. The right to collect the 
salt tax and other indirect taxes was sold to a corporation 
of tax farmers, similar to those of the Roman Republic. 2 
These men paid a definite sum to the government ; they 
extorted from the people such additional amounts as 
they could. 

Part of the expense of the local governments was paid by 
customs duties which were collected by most towns and by 
many of the baronies in France. These octroi (oc-trwa') 
or tolls were not so common as in the Middle Ages, 3 
but they were still sufficiently numerous to make com- 
merce difficult. If a merchant wished to carry his goods 
to market he might be obliged to pay these dues ten, 
fifteen, or twenty times before he was able to sell his 
product in the nearest city. Imagine going from New 
York to Boston and being obliged to pay duty at every 
town through which one passed. That was what hap- 
pened when one went from Paris to Lyons in 1775. These 
duties were of course a severe tax on trade, often making 
it quite unprofitable. 4 

116. The Clergy. — In addition to taxes the peasants 
were obliged to give " tithes " to the church. 5 These 



1 The term corvee really included all forced labor or service. The 
lord's service was limited to twelve days a year, that of the government 
was unlimited. 

2 E. E. C, § 331. 

3 Cf. E. E. C, § 567. Octroi duties are still collected at the gates 
of many French and other European cities (§§ 000, 000). 

4 On tolls cf. § 15 n. 5 E. E. C, § 521. 



THE OLD REGIME 145 

did not actually amount to one tenth of the income of The church 
the people, but they fell upon a people already heavily JVJjf the 
burdened. The tithes supported an organization that, the rev- 
being practically exempt from taxes, did not pay its share enuesfroil J 
toward the support of the state. The church had also lands, 
the income from its own extensive lands. 

The church had its own laws and its own courts. In The church 
many respects it constituted a state within a state. It a P ri 7 lle gecl 

^ . medieval 

tolerated no faiths other than its own ; and in general organiza- 
it was not in full sympathy with the times or the people. tlon - 
In eighteenth-century France there were higher and High- 
lower clergy, as in the Middle Ages. 1 The higher clergy salaned 
had good salaries, so that, although they constituted and under- 
only one sixth of the church officials, they had five paid 

"* . . curates. 

sixths of the church revenues. The higher clergy, being 
nobles appointed by the king, spent as much time at 
court as they did in the care of their abbeys or bishoprics. 
The low secular clergy, the priests, belonged to the com- 
mon people. They were overworked and underpaid. 

117. The Nobility. — The second privileged class was The priv- 
made up of nobles. About one person in two hundred lle p c ( 
was a member of a noble family, although comparatively and the 
few persons belonged to the real nobility which owned or fi nar y 
the larger estates, enjoyed most of the offices, lived at 
court, and was really privileged. 

The nobles owned about as much land then as the Specific 
church. They enjoyed exemption from taxation, besides Privileges 
many other privileges. They had many hunting rights ; nobles. 
the peasant might not shoot doves or hares, even if this 
game destroyed crops. In some parts of France the 
peasants could not build fences, because fences inter- 
fered with the sport of mounted huntsmen. The peas- 
ants were still obliged to bring their grain to the noble's 
mill and perhaps bake their bread in the noble's oven, 

'E. E. C, §521. 



146 MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 

being charged good round prices, as the lord had a mo- 
nopoly. The lord levied tolls on the roads of his estate, 
even if the roads were kept up by the labor of the peasants. 
If a flock was driven by his residence or a wagon passed laden 
for market, he took a part as his toll. Such were some of 
the objectionable privileges that had survived from feudal 
times, when most of them had existed for good reason. 
The hour- 118. The Middle Classes. — Between the privileged 

their^oppor- c l asses an d the country peasants there was a class of 
tunities. artisans, lawyers, manufacturers, merchants, and bankers 
that lived in cities. These we called the bourgeoisie 
(§ 14). Most of the minor offices in the government 
were held by members of this middle class, who were in- 
dustrious and efficient. The more successful of the 
bourgeoisie bought for themselves titles of nobility, but 
they could not buy the respect of the nobles, or real 
power in the government, or privileges that belonged to 
the old aristocracy. 
Discontent The middle class chafed under a system that created 
tions^of the mono P°ly f or a f ew an d interfered with the making of 
bourgeoisie, money. They were ambitious and discontented. When 
the revolution came, they deprived the old aristocracy 
of many privileges, and tried to make a new government 
which would specially represent their interests. The 
French Revolution was, in fact, largely the work of the 
bourgeoisie. 
The peasant 119. The Peasants. — Last, and at the time least, were 
and his ^ peasants. Less than one tenth of the peasants were 

burdens. ^ ^ 

serfs. The rest were personally free. Most of them 
" owned " their land ; that is, the land belonged in the 
family, subject to a yearly rent of money, or produce, 
or both, payable to the lord. Besides the money rent 
were the irritating dues which the lord still exacted and 
the heavy, unjust taxes. Unlike the bourgeoisie, the 
peasants did not ask for political power, but for relief 



of the 
peasants. 



THE OLD REGIME 147 

from heavy taxes, from rents on land that really belonged 
to them, and from abuses that had survived from feudal 
times. 

Although comparatively few of the peasants could Prosperity 
read, they lived in a fair degree of comfort, had a fair 
supply of food, and had collected some household furni- 
ture, some china dishes, and a good supply of linen. 
They might be obliged to hide their prosperity for fear 
that the tax collector would make too high an assessment 
of their property or income ; but undoubtedly the peas- 
ants were better off in France than in almost any other 
country except England. That the privileged classes 
in France had fewer privileges than most nobles and clergy- 
men elsewhere on the Continent did not make the French 
peasants better contented ; for the French peasant, 
having made some progress, demanded more, whereas 
the peasants of Spain or Germany were too degraded to 
realize their condition. 

Attempted Reform in France 

120. France under Louis XVI. — This picture of France "at 
France under the old regime gives us some idea of the t ^ ede ^ tl 
situation when Louis XVI became king in 1774. His XV. 
predecessor had not made his work easy, for Louis XV 
had been a selfish and extravagant king, despotic but not 
benevolent. Very few reforms had taken place during 
his reign of fifty years. When a needed reform was men- 
tioned, he would say, " Well, enough of that, things will 
last as long as we do." 

When Louis XV died, Louis XVI and his beautiful Louis XVI 
wife, Marie An-toi-nette', daughter of Maria Theresa of Antatotte. 
Austria and sister of Joseph II, became king and queen 
of France. Louis XVI really would have preferred to 
be a locksmith rather than king. Marie Antoinette was 
very unlike either her energetic, capable mother or her 



148 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Turgot, 
economist 
and prac- 
tical 
reformer. 



large-hearted fanatical brother, and her court was filled 
with unwise and extravagant courtiers. What France 
needed was a king of vision, a leader with backbone ; 
Louis XVI, well-meaning and indolent, had neither. 




Park of Little Trianon. (With Marie Antoinette's Dairy 

121. Turgot. — Louis began well by appointing Turgot 
minister of Finance. As an intendant, Turgot had been 
a practical and successful reformer. He was also recog- 
nized as one of the greatest of the new economists, who 
believed in giving industry and the worker as great free- 
dom as possible. 

Turgot attempted to carry out many reforms. 1 He 

1 Among Turgot's proposed reforms were the following : "the gradual 
introduction of a complete system of local self-government, the abolition 
of the corvee, the imposition of a land tax upon the nobility and clergy; 
the amelioration of the condition of cures and vicars, and the suppression 
of the greater part of the monasteries ; the equalization of the tax by 
means of a land survey, liberty of conscience, and the recall of the 
Protestants ; redemption of feudal revenues ; a single code ; a uniform 
system of weights and measures for the whole kingdom ; the suppression 
of wardenships and masterships, which impeded industry ; freedom of 
thought as well as of commerce and industry ; finally, he interested 
himself in moral as well as in material needs, forming a vast plan of 
public instruction which should shed light in every direction." (Duruy, 
History of France, p. 523.) 



ATTEMPTED REFORM IN FRANCE 149 

allowed free trade in grain in order that local famines Turgot's 
should not occur as in the reign of Louis XV. He put extensive 

r programs 

an end to most of the abuses of tax farming. He abolished of reforms, 
the hated corvee, which compelled the peasants to work 
on the roads. He tried to abolish the special privileges 
of the gilds, to make the nobles pay taxes, and to reform 
the church, thus arousing the opposition of nobility and 
clergy. As he was ungainly in appearance and lacked 
tact, it is not strange that the king as well as all the priv- 
ileged classes in France turned against him. After he 
was dismissed (1776), practically all his reforms were 
abandoned. 

122. Financial Troubles. — The American War for Necker's 
Independence, in which France hoped to humble Great +J port uv 
Britain, added to the burdens of one of Turgot's successor, finances. 
Necker, a banker from Geneva. Necker, however, per- 
formed one important public service. He published a 
financial report, which explained the state of the public 
finances. Although it was not very accurate, it had the 
same effect as the " publicity " methods used by our 
governments in recent years. It called attention to 
abuses and aroused public opinion against them. The 
privileged classes immediately put Necker out of office. 
After his fall the financial situation grew worse. 

In 1787 an assembly of the " notables " (clergy and nobles) Assembly 
was held, with the hope that the privileged classes would 
introduce some scheme for new taxes or would provide 
other reforms. The assembly agreed to reforms similar 
to those proposed by Turgot, so long as they did not 
interfere with the special privileges of the " notables"; 
but the members refused to ?ote any tax which would 
be levied on themselves. The financial problem was 
therefore more acute than ever, as France was heavily 
in debt and drifting into bankruptcy. As a last resort 
it was decided to call the States-General, which had not 



of the 
notables. 



150 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



met since 1614. Everywhere there was rejoicing, for 
king, nobles, clergy, and common people believed that 
the States-General would end all their troubles. 



Composi- 
tion and 
election of 
the States- 
General. 



The third 
estate. 



The 
cahiers 
and their 
demands. 



The Early Revolutions 

123. Calling of the States-General. — The States- 
General had always consisted of the three estates, clergy, 
nobility, and the third estate. From all parts of France 
demands were made that the "third estate should have 

as many deputies as both the 
others. This was granted. All 
deputies for each order were to 
be elected from local districts. 
In consequence there were in 
the first estate a great many 
curates, about two thirds of 
the whole number, and a large 
number of the lesser nobles 
were chosen to the second 
estate. 

The members of the third 
estate represented the people, 
though they were not elected 
directly by popular vote. 
Among the deputies to this 
estate were found many lawyers and many magistrates. 
There were also some nobles, by far the greatest of whom 
was the huge, brainy Count de Mi-ra-beau'. The Abbe 
Sie-yes', later the constitution maker of France, said of 
this body : " What is the third estate ? The nation. What 
is it now? Nothing. What 'ought it to be ? Everything." 
Each district and order was allowed to make out 
instructions or cahiers for its deputies. These cahiers 
are a mine of information concerning the interests and 
desires, the needs and demands of the French people. 




MlRABEAU 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 151 

They give us valuable information concerning the social, 
economic, and political abuses of the ancient regime. 
" It was liberty rather than equality that seemed to be 
the universal cry." 

124. The Meeting of the States-General. - — The crops Famine and 
of 1788 were unusually small, and the following winter i^L 

was exceedingly severe. To the financial difficulties 
of the government and the former discontent of the peo- 
ple was now added acute distress. The reform of the old 
order would have been a much simpler task if so many 
people at the time had not been cold and half starved. 

As there were twice as many deputies in the third The prob- 
estate as there were in either of the other two, the first e ™i° at °o n 
important question which arose was : How should the and voting, 
estates vote ? Should they vote as orders, or should the 
vote be taken by the members as individuals f The privileged 
orders naturally insisted that they should vote as separate 
estates, just as all former States-General had done. The 
third estate desired that there should be a single assem- 
bly, in which all should vote as individuals. The first 
meeting was held on May 5, 1789. The hall was crowded, 
and an interesting speech was given by the king, followed 
by a long, dull paper on the finances by Necker, who was 
again in office. The estates immediately tried to organ- 
ize, the nobles organizing themselves as a separate order, 
the third estate demanding a single assembly, and the 
clergy waiting to see what could best be done, although 
many of the lesser clergy actually met with the members 
of the third estate. 

125. The National Assembly. — Against a single The tenuis 
national assembly king, nobles, and upper churchmen court oathl 
protested vigorously. They had met, they declared, 

to reform the finances, not to revolutionize the govern- 
ment. On the 20th of June, 1789, the doors of the hall 
where the third estate held its meeting were closed by 



152 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



royal orders. Immediately the third estate adjourned 
to a tennis court near by, " at once the Run-ny-mede' 
and the Independence Hall of France." Here the dep- 
uties, with upraised hands, amid intense excitement, 
swore that they would not separate until they had made 
a constitution for France. 



The third 
estate 
defies the 
king, who 
yields. 




Oath of the Tennis Court 

The king now called all of the members together and 
addressed them, asking the estates to separate and vote 
by orders. The nobles and some of the clergy obeyed. 
The " representatives of the nation" kept their seats. 
When the master of ceremonies said to them : " Gentle- 
men, you have heard the king's orders," Mirabeau, the 
new leader of France, rising, thundered in reply, " Go tell 
your master that we are here by the will of the people, 
and that we shall be removed only at the point of the 
bayonet." The revolution had begun. 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 



153 



126. The Fall of the Bastille. — Three weeks later the 
national assembly objected to the troops that the court 
party wished to use in overawing the assembly. The 
king at once dismissed his minister, Necker, who seemed 
to stand for reform. Paris was instantly aroused to 
a frenzy. Mobs from the worst quarters of the city 
looted stores, and, on the 14th of July, they attacked the 
Bas-tille' in which political prisoners had been detained 
under lettres de cachet (§ 95). 
Some of the mob crossed 
the drawbridge, only to be 
shot down. A few hours later 
the Bastille surrendered. The 
besiegers went wild, the Swiss 
guards were slaughtered, and 
the commander of the Bastille 
and several Parisian gentlemen 
who supported the old regime 
were murdered. When the 
king heard of it, he cried out, 
" This is a revolt." " No, 
your Majesty," a courtier re- 
plied, "it is revolution." 
Throughout France, and in 
many other parts of Europe, 
there was rejoicing over the 
destruction of the prison which 
had stood for much that was odious in the old regime. 

127. The night of the Fourth of August. — Through- 
out France there were uprisings. Tax collectors were 
mobbed, hated aristocrats were murdered, and chateaux 
were burned. These things were not done because the 
people loved violence ; the revolutionists desired simply 
the removal of unjust taxes and the destruction of papers 
which proved that they were bondmen. When the 




Place de la Bastille 



The Paris 
mob cap- 
tures the 
old politi- 
cal prison. 



Disorder 

throughout 

France. 



154 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



The de- 
struction 
of the old 
regime, with 
its privi- 
leges and 
abuses. 



The march 
tojVer- 
sailles, 
Oct. 5, 
1789. 



records of feudal payments were delivered to them, they 
were satisfied. If the records were not forthcoming, 
chateau and records were burned together. 

On the night of the fourth of August, 1789, a com- 
mittee of the national assembly gave a report on the 
state of the country. The members were aghast at the 
havoc wrought by the peasants. Then followed one of 
the strangest, wildest, and most momentous scenes in 
the history of parliaments. Nobles and clergy vied with 
each other in giving up privileges. Hunting rights were 
given up, as were rights to tithes, the salt monopoly, and 
exemption from taxation. All serfs were freed. The 
customs districts were destroyed. Special privileges 
of towns were surrendered. So far as it could be done 
by decree, the old regime was destroyed in a few short 
hours. There was opportunity to construct a new 
France based upon freedom and equality. 

128. Second Uprising of the People. — The national 
assembly made many promises on that famous evening ; 
it spent almost two years carrying out some of them and 
framing a constitution for France. Meanwhile discon- 
tent was growing in Paris and in the provinces. The 
price of bread was exceedingly high. As the cities were 
crowded with tramps and with unemployed men, there 
was constant danger of trouble. About the first of 
October a dinner was given by the nobility at which 
insults were offered to the national assembly and the tri- 
color. On October 5th the Parisian mob, led by women 
of the lower quarter, marched to Versailles, demanding 
bread. La Fayette followed with the national guard 
and persuaded the king, his family, and the assembly 
to return to Paris. " We have the baker, the baker's 
wife, and the baker's little boy, now we shall have bread," 
was the cry of the women. The king and the assembly 
could now be influenced by the bourgeoisie or be overawed 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 155 

by the Paris mob. In the provinces the peasants were 
disappointed at the slowness with which the assembly 
worked and with the laws which it passed in order to 
carry out the promises of August 4. 

129. Declaration of Rights. — The members of the Official 
national assembly liked to talk, and they liked to talk J^ ^ e 
on general principles rather than on specific laws. With "rights 
zeal they adopted in the fall of 1789 a " Declaration of ° man * 
Rights of Man and of the Citizen." This declaration 
reminds us of our own Declaration of Independence and 

of the bills of rights in our state constitutions. It de- 
clared that men are born free and remain free and 
equal in rights. It stated that the nation is sovereign. 
It maintained that citizens have a right to help make the 
laws and to equality before the law, and that taxes should 
be payable in proportion to the wealth of the citizens. 
In short, it asserted that all citizens should have indi- 
vidual rights similar to those to which Englishmen in 
England or America were accustomed. 

130. The Government under the New Constitution. Forward 
— Gradually the assembly developed a constitution. ^ thenew 
By this all citizens were divided into two classes, active govern- 
and passive. The active citizens included those who ment - 
paid a tax equivalent to three days' labor ; they were 
allowed to vote. The constitution provided for a single 
legislative assembly elected by the people. The king 

was allowed to veto laws, but a bill could become a law 
without his consent if voted by three successive legisla- 
tures. The king was not allowed to control the army. 

The assembly abolished all customs districts (§ 15), New de- 
and local systems of law (§ 3). It also abolished the P artmen j> a 
old provinces (§ 113) with their special privileges. France ized local 
could now be organized as a nation. In place of the old s° vern - 

t-i t-ti- -i 7 ment, and 

provinces France was divided into eighty-two departments, fair trials, 
each of which was subdivided into districts and munici- 



156 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Seculariza- 
tion of 
church 
lands. 



Changes in 
taxation 
and issues 
of paper 
money. 



palities. All local governments were to be made up of 
elected officials. In consequence the government of 
France was highly decentralized. No longer were nobles 
allowed to hold court on their estates as some had since 
the Middle Ages, but new systems of local and general 
courts were created to protect the rights of the citizens 
and to apply the laws. Provision was made not only 
for jury trial in criminal cases, but for open and fair 
trial. Punishments were made more just, and the death 
penalty was to be inflicted by decapitation, for which 
a new instrument called the guillotine was invented. 

131. Finances and Church Lands. — The assembly did 
not really interfere with the church until it needed money. 
Then it decided to take over the church lands, because 
it maintained that these lands had been given by the 
nation to the church in order that it might care for the 
people. Now that the nation was looking directly after 
the interests of its members, they believed that the 
government should supervise the church and should 
take charge of the church lands. At first an attempt 
was made to sell those lands, but without success. 

Since many of the old taxes such as the " gabelle," the 
" octroi," and the tobacco monopoly had been abolished, 
the government did not have as much revenue as before. 1 
Consequently, it began to issue paper money, called 
assignats, the church lands being used as security ; that 
is, the government treated the paper money as a loan 
made to it by the people and considered the lands as 
mortgaged for the payment of the assignats. The temp- 
tation to make money by running the printing press was 
so great that bills aggregating in value twenty-nine bil- 



1 The new system of taxation included a land tax assessable on all 
classes, a personal property tax, a tax on industries and commerce, and 
a tariff on imports and exports. In fact either these taxes were not 
levied or they produced little revenue. 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 157 

lions of francs were eventually issued. Naturally these 
depreciated so much that it was necessary to have the 
" law of the maximum " (§ 136), which fixed the maxi- 
mum price that might be charged for any commodity. 

132. Church and State. — Beginning with the decree Seculariza- 
of November 2, 1789, the state took over not only the ^^ 
property of the church which we have just mentioned, property, 
but the work of the church in addition. Churchmen 

were to be paid by the government, and a minimum 
salary of twelve hundred francs and lodging was guar- 
anteed to every priest. That was at least double the 
former salary of the curates. The assembly forbade the 
payment of papal dues and suppressed the monasteries. 

By the civil constitution of the clergy, 1790, the number Oath of 
of bishops was reduced to one for each department. clergy *° 

^ support the 

They, and all other clergymen, were to be elected from French con- 
their districts. Each was compelled to take an oath of stltutlon - 
fidelity to the constitution of France, including the civil 
constitution of the clergy. This policy was opposed by 
the public, by practically all bishops, and by many 
curates. Clergy who failed to take the oath were called 
the " non-juring priests." 

This first national assembly was known as the Con- Work of 
stituent Assembly because it made a constitution (1789- t J eC ™" 
1791). In addition it decreed the abolition of abuses; on Assembly 
the night of the fourth of August and later, it actually y^~ 
freed the peasants from many obligations which had sur- 
vived from feudal times, and it arranged for the pur- 
chase by the peasants of the land which they occupied. 

133. War with Austria and Prussia. — Soon after the Emigrant 
beginning of the Revolution the brother of Louis XVI had q^JJJ, 
left France. Many of the most conservative or most hated 

of the nobles also emigrated. In the valley of the Rhine 
there were two camps of these " emigrees," who sought con- 
stantly to stir up trouble for the new French government. 



158 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



The 

"flight" 
of the king, 
June, 1791. 



A new, 
more 
radical 
assembly 
and foreign 
interven- 
tion. 



Early in the summer of 1791 the king and queen de- 
cided to join their friends who had emigrated. On June 
21 they left Paris, the queen being dressed as a Russian 
lady and Louis being disguised as her valet. The queen 
could not forget that she was queen and they proceeded 
in the great coach by slow stages. At one town Louis 
put his head out of the carriage and was recognized. 
At Varennes they were stopped, taken prisoners, and 
finally taken back to Paris. From that time the people 
had even less confidence that Louis was playing the game 
squarely. 

The second national assembly, which met in 1791, 
was called the Legislative Assembly, 1 and was controlled 
by a group of young, eloquent deputies known as the 
" Gi-ron'dists." 2 The radicals of this body occupied 
such high seats in the assembly hall that they were known 
as the " Mountain." The patriotism of this assembly 
was aroused when the rulers of Prussia and Austria as- 
serted 3 that the restoration of the monarchy in France 
concerned them as well as France. War with Austria 
and Prussia did not break out, however, until the spring 
of 1792. Before invading France, the allied army issued 
through its commander, the Duke of Brunswick, a mani- 
festo in which it ordered the French people to restore 
Louis XVI to his proper position and to govern them- 
selves according to the instructions of the allied monarchs.. 



The French Republic 

134. Events Leading to the Republic. — By this time 
the nation as well as the assembly was thoroughly aroused 

1 The members of the Constituent Assembly unselfishly but unwisely 
decided that they should not be eligible to election in the new assembly- 
This deprived that body of the experience gained by its members. 

2 The name is associated with the valley of the Garonne river, from 
which many leaders of the faction had come. 

3 Declaration of Pillnitz, August 27, 1791. 



THE FRENCH REPUBLIC 



159 



against royalty. Throughout France was sung the Mar- 
seil-laise', the song of the red revolutionists from Mar- 
seilles', who marched to Paris urging extreme measures. 
The assembly was ordered to depose the king. When 
it failed to do so. the mob, August 10, invaded the Tuile- 
ries (Twil-ri'). where the king had his residence. The 
members of the royal family were first removed to the 
assembh^ hall and then were kept prisoners in the temple. 
The Swiss guards offered resistance, but the mob sacked 




Attack on 
the Tuile- 
ries, 

August 10, 
1792. 



The Lion of Lucerne 

the Tuileries and killed the defenders almost to a man. 
The lives of a few were saved, for they mounted statues in 
the garden, which even the rioters did not wish to injure 
with the blood of their victims. In Lucerne, Switzer- 
land, a huge lion has been cut in the rock in memory of 
these brave guards. 

During the early years of the revolution the national Famous 
assemblv was slow and rather conservative. Some of revolut J° n " 

ary clubs. 

the more radical members organized groups in which 
they discussed public problems and more heroic measures 
of reform. The most famous of these clubs was the 



160 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Events of 

September, 

1792. 



Jac'o-bin group, of which La Fayette and Talleyrand were 
originally members, but from which they resigned when 
men like Marat (Mar-ra') and Ro-bes-pierre' gained 
control. Similar groups were organized in Paris and 
throughout France. These men and other radicals 
were known as Jacobins. They were influential in the 
Legislative Assembly, but they did not gain control until 

several months after the 
attack on the Tuileries. 
Another group in Paris 
was known as the Cor- 
de-lier' club. The lead- 
ing spirit of this was 
Dan-ton' ', an able but 
rather brutal lawyer, 
who was strongly op- 
posed to the monarchy! 
After the tenth of August 
Danton became the 
most prominent figure 
in France. 

As the allied armies 
advanced toward Paris, 
the populace became 
filled with fear and rage. They believed that royalists, 
nobles, and priests in and near Paris were aiding the 
enemy ; consequently, the first week in September the 
mob broke into the prisons of Paris and massacred in 
cold blood more than a thousand royal prisoners. This 
butchery was known as the September Massacres. t Later 
in the month, on the twenty-fifth of September, two im- 
portant events occurred. The invasion of the Austrians 
and Prussians was stopped by the battle of Valmy and 
a new assembly, called the Convention, met and organized 
a republic. 




Danton 



THE REIGN OF TERROR 161 

135. Execution of Louis XVI. — Since the Convention Trial and 
was made up of extremists, in November (1792) it issued J;*^ 1 ^ 
a challenge to monarchial Europe, informing all peoples 

that France would help them to free themselves from their 
kings. By January, 1793, it was decided to try Louis 
XVI for conspiracy or treason. Unanimously the mem- 
bers of the Convention voted that he was guilty of con- 
spiracy, but, in spite of the ravings of the radicals in the 
gallery, his death was decreed by a bare majority. On 
the twenty-first of January, 1793, Louis was taken from 
his cell and guillotined in the presence of an enormous 
crowd. 

On February first the Convention declared war against New general 
England and Holland. By March 9 all Europe was in ^?$m) 
arms against France. Almost immediately disaster over- 
took the northern French army which had advanced 
into Belgium and the one farther south which had pene- 
trated to the Rhine river. 

136. Conditions Leading to the Terror. — When the call Call for 
for more troops was ordered in January, some of the dis- * roops a f. d 

^ J ' insurrection 

tricts refused to furnish men. In La Vendee (Ven-day') in La 
the rule of the assembly had never been popular. None of Vendee - 
the priests of that district had taken the oath, and they 
were supported by the peasants, who were exceedingly 
loyal to the church in its old form. The execution of the 
king was the finishing touch. La Vendee rose in insur- 
rection. Its example was followed in several cities and 
in other districts of France. 

It seemed to those in authority that the republic Dictatorial 
could be maintained only by the most severe measures. P° we f s 

GXGrClSGQ 

Since the Convention did not wish to give Danton abso- by the 
lute authority, it organized a Committee of Public Safety, Co ? ll ^* tee 
comprised of nine members who had great power. To Safety and 
aid them, a tribunal or court was formed which had the lts court - 
right to try persons as arbitrarily as they would be tried 



162 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Attempt of 
the French 
government 
to regulate 
prices. 



Danger of 
arbitrary- 
arrest and 
trial. 



Atrocities 
committed 
by revolu- 
tionary 
govern- 
ments. 



by courts-martial. Being in control of both the execu- 
tive and judicial branches of the government, the radicals 
were able to carry out a policy of extreme measures. 
By this system of terrorizing their opponents, they hoped 
to keep the republic from destruction. 

Another danger encountered by the rulers of France 
was that of high prices. During these years of unrest 
and disorder, business had been rather poor, and the 
government had issued so much paper money that prices 
were very high. In order to stop the rise of prices, the 
government in 1793 decreed or passed the " law of the 
maximum." It fixed the maximum price for wheat and 
flour, decreed that the price of other necessities should 
be only one third more than the price of 1790, and fixed 
wages one half higher than they were in 1790. These 
laws could not be enforced, partly because those who had 
goods would not sell them at those prices. 

137. The Reign of Terror. — By September, 1793, 
things had gone from bad to worse. The Convention 
declared that any one who opposed or criticized the 
government might be considered guilty of treason. 
Prisoners suspected of sympathy with the royal cause 
were no longer safe. Those who had enemies trembled 
for fear that they too might be imprisoned and tried 
before the revolutionary tribunal. In Paris and in most 
other cities a condition akin to terror existed. Few dared 
to speak openly or criticize the rulers of either the nation 
or the cities. 

The revolutionary tribunal in Paris did not use its 
power arbitrarily at first, but in Lyons, already the scene 
of violence early in the Revolution, many hundreds of 
people were killed by soldiers in the streets, and two 
thousand were guillotined by the revolutionary tribunal 
of that city. At Nantes, in La Vendee, the more fortu- 
nate prisoners were shot down; others were huddled 



THE REIGN OF TERROR 163 

into leaky hulks of vessels and drowned in the Loire 
river. 

The Convention did not approve the orthodox religion The 
of France. It decreed that there should be a new calen- ^Liberty 
dar which dated, not from the birth of Christ but from and the 
the establishment of the republic, the next twelve months B ej£!l me 
being known as the year one. In Paris a great Festival 
of Liberty was held. In the stately old Cathedral of 
Notre Dame there was enthroned, by the red-capped 
deputies from the Convention and by wild rioters, a 
Goddess of Reason, around whom danced the women of 
the slums. This orgy was disapproved by many of the 
leaders of the government and by most of the people. 
Months later new leaders of the Committee of Public 
Safety held a Festival of the Supreme Being, at which 
three colossal figures symbolizing atheism, discord, and 
selfishness were burned. Soon afterwards the people in- 
sisted that the churches should be opened again for the 
worship to which they had been accustomed for centuries. 

138. Close of the Reign of Terror. — Those respon- Fall of 
sible for the Festival of Liberty were soon overthrown an on ' 
by their enemies and sent to the guillotine. Soon after, 
Danton was brought before the revolutionary tribunal, 
tried, and put to death. " The republic seemed to have 
become a monster eager to tear and devour her own 
children." 1 

With the death of Danton, Robespierre came into power. Rule and 
Robespierre was a small man, whose views in the early ^RobesT 
days of revolution had been moderate. His short rule pierre. 
of something over three months was marked by so much 
bloodshed that the Reign of Terror has ever since been 
regarded with horror. 2 For several weeks before he was 

1 Bourne, The\Revolutionary Period in Europe, p. 213.', 

2 During the Reign of Terror, however, there were fewer people sent 
to the guillotine "in "Paris than were killed on the Union side'of the battle 



164 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Changed 
conditions 
under the 
Republic. 




Robespierre 



sent to the guillotine, he had four revolutionary tribunals 
in Paris working overtime trying suspects. His severity 

aroused all factions 
against him. In July, 
1794, they in turn 
seized him and de- 
manded his execution. 
His death really ended 
the Reign of Terror. 

139. Constructive 
Work of the Conven- 
tion. — We must not 
think that during these 
months all Frenchmen 
were as bloodthirsty 
as the rulers, or all 
citizens as much in 
. , danger as were those 
factional leaders who were not in power. The ordinary 
citizen came and went, attending strictly to his own affairs, 
and refraining from criticism or comment on the govern- 
ment or its leaders. People, especially of the higher 
classes, were careful to avoid any appearance of aris- 
tocracy. Early in the Revolution all titles had been 
.abolished and abandoned. The duke was no longer 
duke, he was simply Mr. Citizen. The dress of a gentle- 
man was too dangerous a mark for public use ; instead 
■of the silk waistcoat, the short clothes of fine cloth, 
silk stockings, and silver-buckled low shoes, all men 
wore the loose coat and long trousers which formerly 
had been the distinguishing clothes of the laborer. 

The Convention, however, devoted far more attention 

of Gettysburg. Even during the later days of the dictatorship of Robes- 
pierre, the number that was executed averaged less than thirty-five per 
day. • 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 165 

to constructive reforms than to the destruction of its Work of the 
enemies. It adopted a metric system of weights and f^^^T 
measures ; it helped the peasants (§ 200) to acquire title up France, 
to their lands. In its later sessions it made arrangements 
for an educational system, in which a boy could be taught 
from the lowest grades through the university. It made 
good progress toward the drawing up of a uniform law 
code for the country to take the place of the many hun- 
dred local systems of law that had been abolished early 
in the Revolution. 

140. The General European War and the Directory. Victories of 
— As we noted above (§ 136), soon after the death of Sfmot .and 

vo /7 the citizen 

Louis XVI France found herself at war with practically armies, 
all Europe. 1 Fortunately a member of the Committee 
of Public Safety, Lazare Carnot (Car-no') was the man for 
the emergency. So successful was he that he is known 
as the " Organizer of Victories." Under his direction 
large armies of enthusiastic citizen troops were raised. 
In addition the French armies were almost doubled in 
size by conscription. They adopted methods of direct 
attack which were suitable for inexperienced but enthu- 
siastic troops, and their able young generals gradually 
freed France from all invaders. 

In 1795 the French assumed the offensive. They de- France 
feated the Spaniards on the frontier of the Pvrenees, the m .^ es peace 

^ ■ . with some 

Italians in the Alps, and the English, Austrians, and Prus- of her 
sians along the Rhine. Since France no longer desired 
to overthrow European monarchies, the Prussians 2 

1 The war between England and France influenced the United States 
because (1) we had a treaty of alliance (1778) with France, and (2) we 
were the most important neutral country engaged in the carrying trade. 
Washington soon issued the Proclamation of Neutrality, but our position 
as neutral carriers of goods caused trouble until the European wars closed 
at Waterloo (1815). 

2 Prussia gave to France her territories on the west bank of the Rhine, 
on condition that she receive other territories in central Germany. 



enemies. 



166 MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 

and Spaniards x deserted their allies and made peace 
with the Republic. The Dutch Netherlands were organ- 
ized into the Ba-ta'vi-an Republic, which was allied with 
France. England took advantage of this alliance to 
seize most of Holland's colonial possessions; Ceylon, 
South Africa, and some of the East Indies islands became 
British because of the success of the English fleets. 
The old I n 1795 also France reorganized her government. She 

regime provided for a legislature of two houses and an executive 

consisting of five directors. We refer to the period dur- 
ing the next four years as that of the Directory. 

141. Summary. — More than any other continental 
country, France had become a nation before 1789, yet 
in France many medieval usages survived. We call this 
state of affairs the old regime. While the king was des- 
potic and ruled through a royal council and intendants, 
his authority was limited by local privileges and local 
systems of law. There were two privileged orders, the 
clergy and the nobility, each of which controlled about 
a fifth of the land of France. The middle classes, bour- 
geoisie and more prosperous farmers, were rich but dis- 
contented and ambitious. The peasants, burdened by 
unjust and rather heavy taxes, demanded reforms. 
Under Louis XV few reforms were made and his succes- 
sor, Louis XVI, was temperamentally unfit to cope with 
serious problems. Half-heartedly he upheld his reform 
ministers, Turgot and Necker, who were opposed vigor- 
ously by the court party. 

When it was found impossible to make necessary 
changes in the taxes, a States-General was called in 1789, 
the first in 175 years. Petitions (cahiers) were made out 

1 Spain's withdrawal had important consequences to America, because 
the Spanish feared that the United States would ally herself with Great 
Britain. If this had occurred, Spain would have lost some of her Ameri- 
can possessions west of the Mississippi. (See Ashley, American History, 
§23.) 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 167 

by each locality and order. When the estates met, the The early 
third estate, with more than twice as many delegates as ^° t ke° n 
the other two, insisted on reorganizing as a single chamber, constitu- 
a national assembly. This revolutionary change was tlon ' 
made in spite of the king and the nobility. On July 14 
the Bastille was stormed, and, for several weeks after- 
ward, chateaux were taken and records burned through- 
out France. When news of this reached Paris, August 4, 
the assembly agreed to give up many privileges. In 
October, 1789, the scarcity of bread caused a march on 
Versailles, whence the mob brought to Paris the king and 
his family. The Constituent Assembly not only agreed 
upon a declaration of rights and created a limited mon- 
archy for France, but it took over church lands and made 
the clergy public officials. On the security of the lands 
assignats were issued. Local officials were chosen by 
popular vote, and local districts were allowed to govern 
themselves without much interference from Paris. 

The Legislative Assembly (1791-1792) was more radi- The early 
cal than the Constituent Assembly, but the third assembly, re P ubhc - 
the Convention (1792-1795) was most radical of all, for 
the Mountain and the extreme Jacobins soon overpowered 
the Girondists. The king attempted to flee to his friends 
in Germany, and when those friends made war on France 
in his behalf, the Tuileries were sacked and royalist 
prisoners were massacred. When the foreign invasion 
was checked at Valmy, a republic was established (Sep- 
tember, 1792). Soon after came the proclamation against 
royalty everywhere and the execution of Louis XVI. 

These acts aroused against France the nations of The Reign 
Europe ; they also stirred up the enemies of the Conven- of J?f ror 
tion within France. To terrorize the latter, extreme general 
measures were used by the Committee of Public Safety, European 
the leading member of which was Danton, and the Revo- 
lutionary Tribunal. Especially at Nantes and Lyons 



168 MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 

were the insurrectionists murdered with extreme bru- 
tality. But the Terrorists did not agree among them- 
selves, Danton was driven from power, and under 
Robespierre the guillotine seemed never idle ; yet with 
Robespierre's death the Reign of Terror ended abruptly. 
In the meantime the Convention had passed many laws 
to help business and education, and Carnot had organ- 
ized citizen armies under young, able commanders that 
were winning victories for France. In 1795, the year 
in which the Directory was established, France allied 
herself with Holland and made peace with Prussia and 
Spain. 

General References 

Adams, Growth of the French Nation, 258-307. 

Robinson and Beard, Development of Modern Europe, I, 203- 
283, 

Robinson, Readings in European History, II, 360-465. 

Hayes, Political and Social History of Modern Europe, I, 395- 
522. 

Hazen, Modern European History, 1-151. 

Bourne, The Revolutionary Period of Europe, 88-226. 

MacLehose, Last Days of the French Monarchy. 

Mathews, The French Revolution. 

Lowell, The Eve of the French Revolution. 

Fling, Parallel Source Problems, Book of French Revolution. 

Johnston, The French Revolution. 

Cambridge Modern History, VIII, "The French Revolution." 

Stephens, The French Revolution, 2 vols. 

Lecroix, France in the Eighteenth Century. 

Gibbs, Men and Women of the French Revolution. 

Topics 

The Old Regime in France : Mead, The Grand Tour, 5-28 ; 
Bourne, The Revolutionary Period in Europe, 3-32 ; Hazen, 
Modern European History, 31-59 ; Mathews, The French Revo- 
lution, 1-51. 

Revolutionary Reorganization : Hayes, Political and 
Social History of Modern Europe, I, 479-486; Mathews, The 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 169 

French Revolution, 150-165; Bourne, Revolutionary Period in 
Europe, 107-124 ; Hazen, Modern European History, 86-96. 

The Reign of Terror : Stephens, Revolutionary Europe, 132- 
147 ; Mathews, The French Revolution, 129-146 ; Hazen, Modern 
European History, 128-146. 

Studies 

1. Privileged and unprivileged. Mathews, The French Revo- 
lution, 12-30. 

2. The clergy and their revenues. Lowell, The Eve of the 
French Revolution, 29-37. 

3. The Bourgeoisie. Lecroix, France in the Eighteenth 
Century, 60-80. 

4. The provincial towns. Lowell, The Eve of the French 
Revolution, 175-185. 

5. Taxes of the old regime. Lowell, The Eve of the French 
Revolution, 213-229. 

6. Travel in France. Mead, The Grand Tour, 32-33, 44- 
45, 52-61, 78-84. 

7. Betrothal and marriage of Marie Antoinette. Bickwell, 
Story of Marie Antoinette, 5-31. 

8. The Little Trianon. Bickwell, Story of Marie Antoinette, 
74-80, 141-142. 

9. The diamond necklace. MacLehose, Last Days of the 
French Monarchy, 272-291. 

10. Turgot, Tallentyre, Friends of Voltaire, 206-236. 

11. Cahiers on social and economic questions. Lowell, The 
Eve of the French Revolution, 359-376. 

12. Meeting of States General. Mathews, The French Revo- 
lution, 111-119. 

13. Uprising of the masses. Mathews, The French Revolu- 
tion, 125-137. 

14. The Decrees of August 4 (1789) and the Declaration 
of Rights. Robinson, Readings in European History, II, 404- 
412. 

15. Flight to Varennes. Bickwell, Story of Marie Antoinette, 
221-245. 

16. The assembly demolishes privileges. Johnston, The 
French Revolution, 89-104. 

17. Political parties of the revolution. 

18. Last hours of Louis XVI. Clery, The Royal Family in 
Prison, 171-200. 



170 MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 

19. Closing scenes in Life of Marie Antoinette. Bickwell, 
Story of Marie Antoinette, 297-325. 

20. The first period of general war. Fyffe, History of Modern 
Europe, 53-65. 

Questions 

1. Explain the feudal character of the old regime. Show 
how the new national spirit of the French people influenced 
the French Revolution. Name the three principles of the 
Revolution and explain how each was contrary to the spirit 
of the old regime. 

2. Was there another old regime in central and eastern 
Europe before the Great War? If so, name at least two proofs 
of autocratic government, three evidences of special privilege, 
and several forms of oppression of the people. Have any 
of these evils been removed yet? In what ways was there 
lack of uniformity in the governments or laws of France? Ex- 
plain the organization and the powers of the king, the royal 
council, and the intendants. 

3. Explain the different taxes which were in use before 
1789 : compare them with those in use in America before the 
Great War. 

4. Name the most important privileges of clergy and nobles. 
State what the bourgeoisie wanted. In what ways was the 
peasant unjustly burdened? If better off than his fellows 
in other countries, why was the French peasant discontented ? 

5. What characteristics were needed by the French king 
in the decade before 1789? What reforms were attempted by 
Turgot and Necker ; with what success in each case ? 

6. How had the States-General been organized before 1614? 
Was there any good reason for organizing it in the same 
form in 1789? Why did the third estate insist upon reorganiz- 
ing it into a national assembly? 

7. Trace the different steps in the development of the 
early Revolution and show the revolutionary character of 
each of the following : organization of a single chambered 
national assembly, disorder in Paris and in France, July, 1789, 
work of the national assembly on the 4th of August, procession 
to Versailles and return of the king to Paris, the civil consti- 
tution of the clergy, substitution of departments for the old 
provinces, creation of a constitutional monarchy. 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 171 

8. Who were the emigres ? Describe the attempt of Louis 
XVI to join the emigres. What caused the attack on the Tuile- 
ries, August 10, 1792? 

9. What were the most important revolutionary groups in 
France? Who were the Girondists? Who formed the "Moun- 
tain?" What was the attitude of the French government in 
the fall of 1792 toward monarchy and liberalism in the rest 
of Europe ? Why were a committee of public safety and a revo- 
lutionary tribunal organized in 1793 ? 

10. Name important causes of the general European war 
beginning in 1793. Why were there insurrections in Lyons 
and La Vendee in addition? Describe as fully as possible 
why the French government adopted a policy of terrorizing its 
opponents. How long did the Reign of Terror last ? Who were 
the leaders in the movement and how did it finally come to 
an end? 

11. What was the nature and the object of the "law of the 
maximum ' ' ? Have we ever had any similar laws in the United 
States? If so, when and with what results? What construc- 
tive work was done during this period by the French govern- 
ment? Distinguish between the work of the Constituent 
Assembly, the Legislative Assembly, and the Convention. 

12. What methods used by Carnot entitled him to the name 
"Organizer of Victories"? What were the provisions of the 
peace treaties made by France with Prussia, Spain, and Hol- 
land in 1795? How was the new French government under 
the Directory organized after 1795 ? 



CHAPTER VII 



NAPOLEON 



Napoleon becomes Master of France 



The 

Bonapartes. 
Boyhood of 
Napoleon. 



Military 
training 
and early 
experience. 



142. Napoleon Bonaparte. — The history of Europe 
during the twenty years ending with the battle of Water- 
loo (1815 a.d.) was to a large extent the history of Napo- 
leon. Napoleon Bonaparte was born on the island of 
Cor'si-ca in 1769, about the time that Corsica became a 
part of France. The Bonapartes were a ppor but noble 
family. Especially from his mother, a woman of little 
education but great force of character, did Napoleon in- 
herit those qualities which afterwards made him famous. 
Even in boyhood he showed himself passionate and 
domineering ; as he grew older, his egotism and ambition 
became more pronounced. 

At the age of ten Napoleon was sent to a military school 
in eastern France. His poverty as well as his inability 
to speak French fluently kept him from making friends, 
and he did not excel as a scholar, although his work in 
mathematics was good. His military training included 
a year in a school at Paris, where he told the officers how 
to reorganize their system of instruction. Naturally 
these suggestions from a boy of fifteen did not meet with 
the full approval of the faculty. Napoleon served as an 
artillery officer before the Revolution began. As a lieuten- 
ant of artillery, he took part in the siege of Tou-lon', and 
by the proper placing of the siege guns he helped greatly 
in the capture of the city. Napoleon's prominence, how- 

172 



NAPOLEON MASTER OF FRANCE 



173 



ever, really begins with an insurrection against the Con- 
vention in Paris in the fall of 1795. Being placed in 
charge of the artillery, he protected the Tuileries by fir- 
ing upon the mob in the streets leading to that building. 
His promotion in the army was due chiefly, nevertheless, 




Napoleon 



to the influence of one of the directors, a friend of Jose- 
phine Beau-har-nais', whom Napoleon married in 1796. 

143. Napoleon's Italian Campaign. — Because of in- Succession 
fluence rather than recognized ability Napoleon was of vlctones 
placed (1796) in charge of the army of the French republic Austria. 
in Italy. His way into Italy was blocked by two armies, 
one Austrian, the other Sardinian. By rapid marches 



174 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Treaty of 
Campo 
Formio 
(1797). 



Plan to 
strike Eng- 
land 
through 
India via 
Egypt. 



Land vic- 
tories and 
naval 
defeat in 
Egypt, a 



through low passes of the mountains near the Mediter- 
ranean Sea, Napoleon separated these armies, each of 
which he defeated in turn. Within a month from the 
time when he left France, he entered Milan. A few days 
later the Austrians were beaten again. All of their 
attempts to drive Napoleon from the Po valley were 
futile ; in fact, in the winter of 1797, Napoleon forced an 
Austrian army back through the passes of the eastern 
Alps until he was within a hundred miles of Vienna. 1 

By the treaty of Campo Formio (1797) France gained 
the Belgian Netherlands and almost all territory of the 
Holy Roman Empire on the left or west bank of the 
Rhine. In exchange for the Netherlands, Austria re- 
ceived Venice. 

144. The Egyptian Campaign. — When Napoleon re- 
turned to France, he was already the greatest man in the 
country. Since Holland and Spain were no longer enemies 
but were practically allied with France .(§ 140) ; and since 
Prussia had withdrawn from the war and Austria had 
been compelled to cease fighting, Great Britain was the 
only real antagonist which France had. In order to strike 
the British Empire a mortal blow, Napoleon conceived the 
plan of reaching India oy way of Egypt, and the Directory, 
jealous of his growing fame, gladly furnished an army 
and a fleet. 

Napoleon reached Egypt successfully, having avoided 
an English fleet under Admiral Nelson. Almost under 
the shadow of the Pyramids he made a bombastic speech 
to his soldiers. " Forty centuries look down on you," he 
told them. Here he defeated the Mam'e-lukes, in the 
battle of the Pyramids. But a few days later Nelson 
cornered the French fleet in A-bou-kir' Bay and destroyed 



1 Austria was ready forf peace. Having made an armistice with her, 
Napoleon then turned against Venice and occupied the city. Part of 
northern Italy was organized into republics on the model of France. 



NAPOLEON MASTER OF FRANCE 



175 



the ships one by one. This " battle of the Nile " cut off 
Napoleon's connection with France and made the escape 
of his army almost impossible. A year later Napoleon, 
having accomplished nothing, left his army, evaded the 
British cruisers which were watching, and arrived on the 
south coast of France. 

145. Napoleon as First Consul. — Meanwhile the Coup d'etat 
French Directory had not maintained order at home or B rur ^ air e 



VPKARSIK 




An English Cartoon — The Handwriting on the Wall 

repelled invasion abroad. In Napoleon's absence there 
had been organized against France a new coalition which 
already had gained several victories over the French. 
The coming of Napoleon to Paris gave hope for the 
organization of a new government. On November 9 
(18th Bru-maire'), 1799, Napoleon and some associates 
dissolved the old government and created a new one called 
the consulate. Napoleon was chosen first consul for ten 
years, with extraordinary powers of appointment and 
government. In 1802 he was made first consul for life. 



176 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Italian 
campaign 
(1800) and 
Peace of 
Luneville 
(1801). 



The armed 

neutrality 

(1800) and 

general 

peace 

(1802). 



As the allies (i.e. the enemies of France) were most 
dangerous in Italy, Napoleon advanced to the Alps 
mountains and crossed the high ranges in five days. By 
quick marches he surprised the Austrians in the Po 
valley, and won, after he had almost lost, a battle at 
Ma-ren'go, 1800. In the Peace of Lu-ne'ville (1801) 
terms were made with Austria which were almost the 
same as those of Campo Formio : in this way Austria 
was forced out of the alliance. 

In the meantime Russia had difficulties with England 
because England attempted to control the trade of the 
North Sea and the Baltic Sea to her own advantage. 
With Russia was joined Sweden, Denmark, and Prussia 
in an armed neutrality. A forceful protest was made 
against England's treatment of neutral vessels and trade. 
When Nelson gained a victory at Copenhagen (1801), 
this alliance to protect neutral trade was dissolved. At 
Amiens, March 2, 1802, England and France finally agreed 
to a truce, the peace of Amiens (A-mi-an') 7 and for more 
than a year Europe was at peace. 



The French 

empire 

(1804). 



Napoleon in War and Peace (1802-1806) 

146. Reconstruction of the French Government. — 

After 1799 Napoleon, as first consul, had almost sole powers 
of government. In 1804 he procured a decree of the 
Senate by which the republic was ended and an empire 
was established. The Pope was brought to Paris for the 
coronation in the ancient cathedral of Notre Dame, but 
in order that the Pope might not maintain, as had his 
predecessors, that emperors were of right crowned by 
him, 1 Napoleon completed the ceremony by seizing the 
crown from the Pope's hands and placing it on his own 
head. 

Under the empire more completely than under the 
i E. E. C, § 525. 



NAPOLEON IN PEACE 



177 



consulate Napoleon controlled the appointment of the 
Senate and the administrative bodies of the central 
government. He reorganized the police so that under 
Fou-che' it was much more efficient than before. He 
maintained a censor- 
ship of the press and 
suppressed most of the 
country's newspapers. 

Napoleon retained 
the departments and 
smaller districts which 
had been organized by 
the Revolution (§130); 
but he went back to 
the old regime and re- 
vived the office of in- 
tendant, under the 
name of prefect, ap- 
pointing one such 
officer for each depart- 
ment, with a subpre- 
fect in each district. 
This centralized ad- 
ministrative system is still in use in France. Like their 
predecessors, the intendants, these officials of the central 
government had extensive powers. They appointed the 
mayors of the smaller communes, the mayors of the larger 
cities being selected by Napoleon. The only really repre- 
sentative governing bodies left were the municipal councils. 
He believed thoroughly that the French people desired 
personal and public security rather than political liberty, 
that they desired the prestige of France rather than 
even the " liberty, equality, fraternity " of the Revolu- 
tion. In all this he was undoubtedly right. 

One of the greatest and most lasting reforms made by 



Organiza- 
tion and 
arbitrary 
rule under 
the empire. 




polfox in his Coronation Robe 



178 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Napoleon's 
law codes. 



Attempt to 
enlarge the 
colonial 
empire 
of France. 



Church and 
State in 
France 
before 1789. 



Concordat 
of 1801 
between 
the Pope 
and 
Napoleon. 



Napoleon was in connection with the law codes which 
are explained later (§168). To this work he called the 
ablest men of France. To it he gave many of his own 
evenings, sitting at the table with jurists, asking search- 
ing questions, and suggesting short cuts by which the laws 
were simplified. 

Napoleon not only added to France new lands in Eu- 
rope (§ 143), but he desired to organize a colonial empire. 
The most valued of these possessions was the colony of 
Louisiana, which he had forced the king of Spain to cede 
to him in 1800. To protect Louisiana from any possible 
invasion of the English he sent an army to the New World, 
which was first to subdue Santa Domingo, on the Island 
of Haiti. Through the influence of an able negro patriot, 1 
aided by the swamps of the island, Napoleon's army was 
destroyed. As he had now no troops for the protection 
of Louisiana and was ready for another conflict with his 
arch enemy, Great Britain, Napoleon in 1803 sold Louisi- 
ana to the United States. 

147. Napoleon and the Church. — As we have already 
noticed, the Gallic Church had always been very inde- 
pendent in its attitude toward the papacy (§ 20), but all 
statutes of the old regime fully recognized the importance 
and the power of the Roman Catholic Church in the 
country. 

The early Revolution secularized the church lands, 
brought the clergy under the control of the government, 
and made the church practically a part of the state 
(§§ 131, 132). Later in the Revolution even less atten- 
tion was paid to the ancient rights and privileges of the 
church (§ 138). Napoleon realized fully that, at heart, 
the people were both Catholic and religious. For political 
rather than for religious reasons he desired to reestablish 
cordial relations between France and the papacy, and in 

1 Toussaint L'Ouverture. 



NAPOLEON IN PEACE 179 

1801 he made an agreement with Pope Pius VII. The 
Pope accepted the suppression of the monasteries and 
the secularization of other church properties. Napoleon 
was to nominate the bishops, who were to be appointed 
by the Pope ; the bishops in turn were to appoint the 
priests. Catholicism was recognized as the religion of a 
majority of the French people. This arrangement lasted 
with slight changes until 1905 (§ 000). 

148. Other Changes. — Napoleon sought to surround The new^ 
himself by an elaborate court similar to that of the well andle^on 
established monarchies. Since most of the Napoleonic of honor, 
nobility were people of comparatively humble origin, he 
sought among the old nobility for instructors in the 
proper conduct of court procedure. With difficulty he 
persuaded the central government, made up chiefly of his 
own appointees, to create a legion of honor composed of 
those who in Napoleon's opinion had distinguished them- 
selves on the field of battle, in art, science, literature, or 
other branches of learning. 

Napoleon was much interested in public works and im- Public 
provements. He restored or enlarged many of the old J^^f^ 
palaces. The magnificent art galleries of the Louvre inland 
were enriched with marbles and paintings which were the waterwa y s - 
spoils of his campaigns. From Paris radiated a number 
of new and important military roads which were useful 
in his campaigns and were his especial pride. About 
two hundred other main highways were constructed else- 
where in France, and the improvement of numerous local 
roads was encouraged. Over the Alps he constructed the 
Mont Cenis (Se-ni ; ) road and a highway across the Simplon 
pass, connecting Paris with modern Italy and Rome. 
' The network of canals and waterways rendered avail- 
able for navigation was hardly even outlined in pre- 
revolutionary France. The works undertaken during 
the Consulate and partially completed at the close of the 



180 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Plana for 
invasion 
of England 
and their 
failure. 



^New 
successes 
against 
Austria 
(1805). 



empire were planned on a scale so vast and at the same 
time, with few exceptions, on such practical lines, that 
they constitute to-day by far the most important portion 
of the internal navigation of France." 1 

149. Trafalgar and Austerlitz. — The Peace of Amiens, 
1802 (§ 145), was recognized as a truce, and within a 
year war broke out again. The English did not send 

troops to the Continent; 
they contented themselves 
with subsidies granted to 
their continental allies. It 
was not until 1805 that 
Napoleon gathered at 
Boulogne (Bu-lon') on the 
northern coast of France 
a grand army for the in- 
vasion of England. As he 
needed to clear the Eng- 
lish channel of British 
fleets, the French naval 
officer, Ville-neuve (Vil- 
nerv'), was ordered to 
draw Nelson, the English 
commander, across the Atlantic and to return immedi- 
ately himself in order to convey Napoleon's army across 
to England. Villeneuve failed to outwit Nelson, and the 
latter returned to Europe before the French fleet could 
do so. Later in the year 1805 Nelson absolutely de- 
stroyed the combined French and Spanish fleets off Cape 
Traf-al-gar'. From that time England had even more 
absolute control over their seas than before. 

Napoleon is reported to have expressed a desire for 
just one admiral who would have done for the French on 
the sea what he and his marshals were doing continually 

1 Cambridge Modern History, IX, 119, 120. 




Nelson 



NAPOLEON IN WAR 



181 



on the land. When Villeneuve did not get back in time 
to help him invade England, the conqueror changed his 
plans and immediately marched his army through upper 




Arc de Triomphe. 



Germany and into Austria. Near Vienna, on the first 
anniversary of his coronation as emperor of France, he 
met the combined armies of Austria and Russia at Aus'ter- 
itz. The allies tried to overwhelm one of his wings, but, 



182 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Treaty of 
Pressburg 

(1805). 



Napoleon 
baits and 
defeats 
Prussia*- 



Agreement 
of France 
and Russia 
to divide 
control of 
^Europe. 



when he made a sharp attack with most of his columns 
against the Austro-Russian center, he crushed his op- 
ponents without difficulty and won an overwhelming 
victory. 

In the treaty of peace which followed, Austria lost 
large territories in Italy and in the upper Rhine valley, 
and the next year she was forced to dissolve the ancient 
but now unimportant Holy Roman Empire. The em- 
peror had already (1804) assumed the title, " Emperor 
of Austria." 

150. Supremacy of Napoleon on the Continent. — 
Prussia had tried valiantly, but vainly, to remain neutral, 
but in 1806 she was compelled to side either with Eng- 
land or France. After Napoleon had forced her into 
war, on the same day he made an attack upon the two 
Prussian armies at Jena (Ye'na) and Au-er-stadt'. The 
Prussian troops were badly organized and stupidly led ; 
that day saw the complete humiliation of the Prussian 
army and people. 

Napoleon was now practically supreme in western 
Europe, but the Russians still gave him trouble. After 
a series of battles he finally won a complete victory over 
the Russians at Friedland, 1807. Although the Russians 
were forced to make peace, Napoleon was generous in 
order to have their friendship. On a raft in the middle 
of the river Nie'men, the French emperor and the Tsar 
Alexander arranged a treaty of friendship, the Peace of 
Til' sit, by which Europe was divided between them. 
Napoleon agreed that Russia might seize Finland, which 
was then part of Sweden and should have some Turkish 
territory in eastern Europe on condition that Russia 
should agree, if England would not make peace, to exclude 
from her markets all English-made goods. 



)UTHWESTERN EUROPE 
1S03 

SCAL.E OF MILES . 
100 200 300 400 500 
Final Partitions of Poland 1 1793-5) 
idded to Eastern France (1795-1801) 
Republics dependent upon France 
^Boundaries of Holy Roman Empire 
- 




TRIUMPH OF NAPOLEON 183 



Triumph and Downfall of Napoleon 

151. Napoleon's Continental System. — Since Eng- Reasons for 
land had complete control of the sea after 1805 and Na- °^^ cial 
poleon had complete control of the western part of the 
Continent after Austerlitz and Jena, it was not possible 

for either power to strike a blow at the enemy directly. 
In consequence, there began a commercial war which was 
waged for a number of years. It involved not only France 
and England, but most of continental Europe and in 
addition those neutrals, such as the United States, which 
had an extensive commerce of carrying trade. 

Believing that the " race of shopkeepers," as he dubbed Aims of the 
the English, would be struck in a vital spot if he could ^ktionf 
cripple then business, Napoleon tried to prevent the sale of France 
of English goods in all parts of the Continent. Since the and E ng- 
Industrial Revolution (§§ 187-192) made it possible for 
England to produce large quantities of cheap commodities, 
this would interfere greatly with her trade. England on 
the other hand sought to prevent the French and their 
allies from receivingjTsupplies, particularly foodstuffs, 
from neutral nations and from the colonies of the West 
Indies. 

152. Orders, Decrees, and Embargos. — Napoleon Preliminary 
made the first move by closing the ports of Prussia to ° rders and 
English ships. England responded by an order in coun- (1806). 

cil, in May, 1806, blockading the northern coast of Europe 
from the Elbe river to Brest. From Berlin, after the 
battle of Jena, Napoleon issued his famous Berlin Decree. 
For the British Isles he proclaimed a paper blockade, 
that is, a blockade unsupported by warships and there- 
fore not enforced, and declared that all English merchan- 
dise captured on the high seas or found in certain ports 
on the Continent should be subject to confiscation. 
These blockades, especially those of Napoleon, were not 



184 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Later 
drastic 
orders and 
decrees 

(1807). 



American 
embargoes 
(1807- 
1811). 



Napoleon's 
problems 
in enforcing 
the Conti- 
nental 
system. 



enforced, but English cruisers on the high seas seized 
neutral ships on the way to forbidden continental ports, 
and the French did not hesitate to take American vessels 
which were carrying British exports to the Continent. 

Much more drastic were the proclamations issued the 
next year. British orders in council, adopted in Novem- 
ber, 1807, demanded that all neutral vessels bound for a 
port of the enemy must first touch at an English port, 
and pay duty or be liable to confiscation. When Napo- 
leon heard of these orders, he immediately issued his 
Milan Decree, declaring that all ships were forfeited 
which traded with Great Britain or stopped at an English 
port on their way to the continent and paid duties. 
Between the millstones of English greed and French spite 
neutral commerce was likely to be ground to destruction. 

The Americans did not sit by and watch the destruc- 
tion of their commerce ; immediately Congress passed 
a general embargo, cutting off all trade between America 
and foreign countries. Since this did not prove effective, 
it passed two partial embargoes in order to compel France 
and England to repeal their orders or decrees. 1 

153. The Continental System in Practice. — The eco- 
nomic effects of the continental system we shall study 
later. We must now notice the effect it had upon the 
fortunes of Napoleon Bonaparte. He had gained military 
control of half of the European continent. Through an 
alliance with Russia at Tilsit (§ 150), he sought to gain 
economic or commercial control of the whole Continent. 
But it was one thing for Napoleon to defeat the armies of 
his enemies ; it was an entirely different matter to keep 
them from buying the things they needed or the goods 
which they could purchase cheaper elsewhere than he 
could sell them. In his attempt to control the business 
of Europe, through his commercial warfare against Great 

1 See Ashley, American History, §§ 238-241. 



TRIUMPH OF NAPOLEON 



185 




Napoleon Threatening His Ship- 
master because He Did Not Build 
Enough Ships to Run the English 
Blockade 



Britain, he had undertaken too great a task. He found 
that the English-made goods were smuggled into every 
city of northern Europe, even though those goods were 
taken and burned 
whenever they were J^ 
discovered by French 
spies and officials. 

The Dutch, who at 
this time were ruled 
by Napoleon's brother 
Louis, father of the 
Emperor Napoleon III 
(§ 249), especially op- 
posed the continental 
system because trade 
with the English was 
greater than that of 
any other continental 
people. Since Louis did not force his subjects to obey 
Napoleon's laws, Napoleon deposed him and annexed 
Holland to France. 

Farther east, the Hanseatic towns, particularly Ham- 
burg, traded with the English on every possible occasion. 
But the smuggling was not limited to these foreign mer- 
chants. Along the north coast of France an enormous 
smuggling trade grew up. In fact, Napoleon granted 
thousands of licenses or permits to shipowners, who were 
allowed to bring to the Continent certain English-made 
goods which were needed or desired. In this way the 
emperor helped to break down the continental system. 

154. The Peninsular Wars. — Attempts to enforce 
the continental system led Napoleon into most of the 
campaigns which he fought between 1807 and 1813. In 
spite of the close commercial relations which had existed 
between England and Portugal for a hundred years 



Opposition 
of the 
Dutch. 



Evasion of 
the system 
even in 
France. 



Slow 

progress of 
the English 
in the 
Spanish 
peninsula. 



186 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Victory 
over and 
alliance 
with 
Austria. 



(§§ 50, 59), he tried to keep the Portuguese from trading 
With the British Isles. When they refused to obey his 
orders, Napoleon invaded Spain and Portugal. The dif- 
ferences with the Spanish led to the overthrow of the 
Bourbon monarchy in Spain and the appointment of 
Napoleon's brother Joseph to the throne. While Napo- 
leon remained in 
the field, the French 
were victorious in 
the peninsula ; but, 
whenever he left 
Spain, the English 
troops, under 
Wellesley, Duke of 
Wellington, with 
their Portuguese 
and Spanish allies, 
were almost as uni- 
formly successful. 
The peninsular 
campaigns, how- 
ever, went on for 
six years before 
Wellington's troops 
were able to cross 
the Pyrenees into 
France. 

155. Expansion of the French Empire. — With Na- 
poleon's attention taken up by affairs in the Spanish 
peninsula, Austria sought, in 1809, to regain her lost prov- 
inces. With the marvelous rapidity which marked prac- 
tically all his campaigns, Napoleon gathered an army, 
invaded Austria, entered Vienna, and at Wag' ram, within 
sight of the towers of the city, once more defeated the 
Austrians. Again Austria lost valuable and populous 




Duke of Wellington 



DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON 187 

provinces, for her aged minister advised peace upon any 
terms, predicting the downfall of Napoleon's empire 
within a short time. Nevertheless the ancient house of 
Habsburg welcomed an alliance with the " usurper," 
and in 1809 Napoleon, who had divorced his first wife 
Josephine, was married to the Austrian princess Maria 
Louisa (niece of Marie Antoinette). 

In 1810 the French empire was at its height. The The French 
empire proper included not only France, but the Nether- g^^ e tF f nd 
lands, the northwestern quarter of Italy, and the Illyrian states. : . 
provinces on the east coast of the Adriatic Sea. Within 
this area Napoleon was absolute master. In addition, 
there were numerous countries or leagues under his direct 
protection and supervision. These included the kingdom 
of Spain, ruled by Joseph Bonaparte, the kingdoms of 
Italy and Naples in the Italian peninsula, and the Hel- 
vetian republic (Switzerland). 

Since the reorganization of Germany in 1801, Napoleon New depen- 
had been exceedingly liberal to the rulers of the southern al ^ e c g ies 
German states. In 1806 he organized their principalities 
and a few others into the Confederation of the Rhine, 
which was under his control and protection, and furnished 
him troops. This confederation was later enlarged, par- 
ticularly by the kingdom of West-pha'li-a, at the time 
that Prussia lost more than half of her territory after the 
battle of Jena. East of Prussia and north of Austria 
Napoleon organized out of Polish territories of Prussia the 
new Grand Duchy of Warsaw, which was also under his 
protection. At this time Napoleon was also allied with 
Denmark, Norway, and other countries. 

156. The Russian Campaign (1812). — When Napoleon Russian 
married an Austrian princess, he offended Russia, for he f 1 ^^ 068 
had gone first to that country for a royal wife. Russia Napoleon, 
was even more deeply concerned with the creation on its 
borders of a new Polish kingdom, even though that king- 



188 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Invasion 
of Russia 
and burn- 
ing of 
Moscow 
(1812). 



The 
terrible 
retreat from 
Moscow. 



dom was called simply the " Grand Duchy of Warsaw.' 7 
In a sense the alliance between Russia and Napoleon 
was artificial, but the break between the two was due 
even more to the continental system. The English and 
the Russians had traded with one another from an early 
day. 1 Since England produced much cheaper goods 
than the Russians could make, and much better as well 
as cheaper than they could be produced by the French 
or their allies, the Russian people protested. In fact, 
practically all peoples of northern Europe objected to 
the continental system, since that system kept them 
from buying inexpensive cloth, and forced them to pay 
more than a dollar a pound for coffee and practically deny 
themselves the use of sugar. 

The break did not come, however, until 1812. Na- 
poleon wished to teach his former allies, the Russians, a 
thorough lesson. Gathering a force of nearly a half 
million men, Napoleon led the larger number of these sol- 
diers, the Grand Army, into Russia. His advance was a 
disappointment. The Russians refused to offer battle, 
retiring continually before him until they reached Bor-o- 
di'no, where Napoleon defeated their army at great cost 
to himself. A short time afterward he entered the capital, 
Moscow. The French troops pillaged the city until a 
fire started, which practically destroyed it and the supplies 
which it contained. 

As the peasants in the surrounding country were exceed- 
ingly bitter toward Napoleon, it was difficult for him to 
secure food. The government kept offering terms of 
peace in order that the French might be kept in Moscow 
as long as possible. The winter months coming on, 
Napoleon was finally forced to begin his retreat. He 
tried to follow a route to the west, but his way was blocked 
by the Russians. Storm succeeded storm. The French 

1 Cf. E. E. C, § 722. 



DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON 189 

troops were starving. At least a third of their number 
were captured by the enemy, but even more died from 
hunger, cold, or other hardships. Of the once vast 
army, the greatest Europe had seen up to this time, but 
little was left when, two weeks before Christmas, they 
reached the Niemen river, the rear guard under Marshal 
Ney heroically keeping back the enemy. 

157. The Overthrow of Napoleon. — It is not strange The "War 
that the collapse of Napoleon's Russian campaign should °. f L * bera - 
have caused every nation in Europe to rise against him ; (1813), 
but his star was not yet set. With remarkable skill he 
raised new levies of troops, this conscription making 
nearly a million and a half soldiers that had been furnished 
by France since his accession to power in 1800. Fight- 
ing began anew in east Germany, where a " War of Libera- 
tion " was preached by Prussia, the national spirit of 
the German people being fully aroused. At Leip'zig 
in 1813 the " Battle of the Nations " was fought, Nearly 
three fourths of a million troops were engaged in this three 
days' contest. Napoleon was beaten but succeeded in 
withdrawing his army. 

Gradually Napoleon was forced farther and farther The French 
west, until in 1814 three large foreign armies advanced /fSSf 18118 
upon Paris from the east and Wellington brought an army 
from the Spanish peninsula. At no time in his career 
was the military genius of Napoleon shown more plainly. 
He seemed everywhere at once, and his attacks had all 
the fire and skill of his earliest campaigns, but his brilliant 
minor victories only postponed by days or weeks the in- 
evitable result. Hopelessly outnumbered, he saw the 
attacking forces close relentlessly around his dwindling 
army of raw recruits. When, in March, 1814, Paris sur- 
rendered to the enemy, the emperor was still in the field, 
but he was unable to continue the contest. He signed 
preliminaries of peace and abdicated his throne, and 



190 MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 




DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON 



191 



The returir 




■•*\ 



of Waterloo . 
June 18th, 
1815 



was banished to the little island of Elba, off the coast of 
Italy. 

158. The Waterloo Campaign. — Here Napoleon re- 
mained several months. Finally, in the spring of 1815, ? 181 5?° eon 
he escaped to France. His arrival was hailed with en- 
thusiasm, and his veterans gathered around him. Once 
more the great war seemed a reality, but Napoleon's 
work was done. He advanced into Belgium in order to 
attack English and other soldiers under Wellington in 
the north and a German force under Bllicher (Blee'ker) 
in the east. By forced marches Napoleon threw his 
army between those of his opponents. He first drove 
back Bllicher and then advanced against Wellington, 
whose army had marched south of Brussels. 

Here, near the village of Waterloo, on the 18th of The battle 
June, Napoleon fought his last battle. All afternoon 
he hurled his cavalry 
and infantry against 
the steadfast lines of 
the British troops, but 
in vain ; his ablest 
leaders could make no 
impression on that 
" thin red line." About 
mid-afternoon he dis- 
covered that the Prus- 
sians, who, he had sup- 
posed, were retreating, 
were advancing from 
the east. Crowded in 
between the two at- 
tacking forces, he tried 

once more to break the ToMB OF Napoleon 

British front. Four thousand of his finest soldiers, be- 
longing to the old imperial guard, marched once more 




192 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Napoleon's 
victories^ 
and rise 
to power 
(1796- 
1802). , 



Peace 
achieve- 
ments and 
victories 
which gave 
him western 
continental 
Europe. 



across the bloody field against the position of the enemy. 
They reached the crest of the hill, only to be mowed 
down by the deadly infantry fire. In spite of their boast 
that the " old guard dies, but never surrenders," the 
survivers either gave themselves up to the British or 
struggled back to Napoleon's lines. Overwhelmed, 
almost cut off from escape, the remaining battalions of 
the emperor sought safety in flight. Napoleon's last 
battle had become his worst defeat. One day's fighting 
had given the allies a decisive victory, and Napoleon 
again abdicated, this time for good. He was sent to 
the rocky island of St. Helena, in the south Atlantic, 
where he spent the six remaining years of his life. 

159. Summary. — Napoleon, " the Corsican," was 
trained in military schools and first gained recognition for 
his skill in the artillery service. In 1796-1797 he gained 
brilliant victories over numerous Austrian armies in 
northern Italy. He then tried to strike the English in 
India through Egypt. Returning to France, he reorgan- 
ized the government, becoming first consul and later 
making himself emperor (1804). In the Peace of Lune- 
ville (1801) he gained the west bank of the Rhine and the 
right to reorganize Germany (§ 162) ; in the Peace of 
Amiens (1802) he made a truce with his persistent enemy, 
Great Britain. 

Napoleon now reorganized the French government, 
strongly centralizing it and bringing it under his control. 
He forced on the Pope a Concordat, which made it pos- 
sible for him to speak of his bishops. He constructed 
roads and planned canals, and he organized systems of 
law (the Code Napoleon, etc., § 168) and of education 
(§ 169). Unable to invade England because Nelson 
destroyed his fleet at Trafalgar (1805), he overwhelmed 
the Austrians at Austerlitz (1805) and the Prussians at 
Jena (1806). This gave him control of western Europe. 



NAPOLEON 193 

At Tilsit (1807) he agreed to divide Europe with Tsar 
Alexander I of Russia. 

Since England controlled the seas, Napoleon tried to Napoleon's 
injure her by closing continental ports to her goods. If g°g t ^ ntal 
he could have succeeded in destroying the European 
market for the cheap goods that she produced because 
of the Industrial Revolution (Chapter IX), Napoleon 
would have won. He failed because he could not control 
western continental Europe even in a military and political 
way; to keep subject and allied peoples from buying 
what they needed, or where they could most cheaply, was 
of course impossible. 

The attempt to enforce his continental system brought Final cam- 
on the Peninsular wars with Portugal and Spain, which !^Jf ns 
Wellington finally won, and led to the invasion of Russia downfall. 
(1812), where cold and famine destroyed his Grand Army. 
Defeated at Leipzig (1813), Napoleon withdrew to France, 
where he was overwhelmed by the combined armies of his 
enemies. He was banished to Elba, returned, met the 
allies at Waterloo (1815), was defeated, and was banished 
to St. Helena. His empire, which had included France 
to the Rhine, Holland, part of northern Italy, and 
the Illyrian provinces, besides dependencies of Spain, 
the kingdoms of Italy and Naples, the Helvetian repub- 
lic, the Confederation of the Rhine, and the Grand 
Duchy of Warsaw, was reduced to France with the limits 
of 1789. 1 

General References 

Hayes, Political and Social History of Modern Europe, I, 523— 
581. 

Hazen, Modern European History, 152-248. 

Bourne, The Revolutionary Period in Europe, 232-285, 301- 
366, 400-445. 

1 On the disposition of territories in 1815, see the Congress of Vienna 
(§§ 170. 171). 
o 



194 MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 

Fisher, Napoleon. 

Stephens, Revolutionary Europe, 187-335. 

Rose, Revolutionary and Napoleonic Era. 

Fournier, Napoleon the First. 

Johnston, Napoleon, A Short Biography. 

Fyffe, History of Modern Europe, 74-407. 

Cambridge Modern History, IX, "Napoleon." 



Topics 

Early Life of Napoleon : Johnston, Napoleon, A Short 
Biography, 1-11; Fournier, Napoleon the First, 1-18; Rose, 
Life of Napoleon, I, 1-22 ; Fisher, Napoleon, 7-28. 

The Continental System : Andrews, Historical Develop- 
ment of Modern Europe, I, 49-62 ; Gibbons, Economic and In- 
dustrial Progress in the Nineteenth Century, 87-100 ; Bourne, The 
Revolutionary Period in Europe, 340-351, 361-366 ; Beard, Intro- 
duction to the English Historians, 520-537. 

Trafalgar and Atjsterlitz : Fyffe, History of Modern 
Europe, 187-202; Johnston, Napoleon, A Short Biography, 112- 
129 ; Mahan, Influence of Sea Power upon History, II, 178-198. 

Waterloo : Fyffe, History of Modern Europe, 387-404 ; 
Johnston, Napoleon, A Short Biography, 214-237 ; Rose, Life 
of Napoleon, II, 449-471 ; Creasy, Fifteen Decisive Battles, 367- 
386; Hugo, Les Miser ables, "Waterloo." 



Studies 

1. First Italian campaign. Fyffe, History of Modern Europe, 
80-100. 

2. Coup d'etat of 18th Brumaire (1799). Johnston, 
Napoleon, A Short Biography, 59-79. 

3. The French codes. Seignobos, History of Contemporary 
Civilization, 163-165. 

4. Sale of Louisiana. Adams, History of the United States, 
II, 25-50. 

5. Napoleon in peace. Hayes, Political and Social History 
of Modern Europe, 528-533 ; Seignobos, History of Contemporary 
Civilization, 155-169. 

6. The peninsular wars. Jeffery, The New Europe, 105- 
123. 



NAPOLEON 195 

7. The Russian campaign. Johnston, Napoleon, A Short 
History, 170-187. 

8. The Battle of the Nations. Baring-Gould, Story of 
Germany. 

9. Napoleon at St. Helena. Rosebery, Napoleon, The Last 
Phase, 164-179. 

Questions 

1. What personal characteristics of Napoleon fitted him 
for his wonderful career? Describe in considerable detail 
his first Italian campaign. Why did he go to Egypt ? Explain 
successes and failures of his Egyptian campaign. 

2. What were the important problems of France in 1799? 
Show how the first consulate solved the internal problems, 
and Napoleon's successes against Austria, the external. Give 
provisions of the Peace of Luneville. Show significance of the 
armed neutrality and the Peace of Amiens. 

3. Show what Napoleon did for France in time of peace. 
Explain need of more perfect government within France, of 
new law codes, and explain problems of a French colonial em- 
pire and of a state religion. What did Napoleon do for business? 

4. Describe the campaigns culminating in the battles of 
Trafalgar and Austerlitz. Show the significance of those two 
battles and explain the importance of the Peace of Tilsit. 

5. Why did Napoleon develop a continental system and 
what did he expect to do by that ? Explain the most important 
orders, decrees, and embargoes (1806-1807). What difficulties 
did Napoleon encounter in enforcing his system : from England, 
from the French, from France's allies, from Americans? 

6. On a map point out the territory of the French empire 
proper, the tributary kingdoms or states, and the countries 
allied with France. 

7. Trace the downfall of Napoleon through the Russian 
campaign, the German War of Liberation, the campaigns east of 
Paris, 1814, and the Waterloo campaign. 

8. In what respects was Napoleon a great man? What 
work did Napoleon do for the betterment of the European 
peoples ? 



196 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



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CHAPTER VIII 
RECONSTRUCTION AND REACTION (1800-1830) 

The Reorganization of Germany 

160. German Disunity Before 1801. — The Holy Ro- Germany 
man Empire of the German nation was organized by Otto ^L.^JJJ 
I in 962 a.d. 1 Until the close of its struggle with the Ages, 
papacy about the middle of the thirteenth century, the 
empire played an important part in the general course 
of European affairs. 2 After that time it was chiefly a 
feudal state, loosely organized, whose real rulers were 
the princes of separate states in the empire. Whoever 
was Archduke of Austria, the leading member of the house 
of Habs'burg, was almost invariably chosen emperor. 

After the Thirty Years' War 3 the empire was little Germany 
more than a name. As Voltaire wittily stated in the as a d . ls ~ 

.-,,', organized 

eighteenth century, it was neither holy nor Roman nor feudal 

imperial. Whereas feudalism as a political force had state ; 
. . seven- 

disappeared from most of the continent of Europe several teenth and 

centuries earlier, and other countries had organized mon- ei s hte enth 

centuries. 

archies and had become united, Germany was still a 
disunited feudal state. At the beginning of the nineteenth 
century it was made up of more than three hundred 
principalities, of which sixty were free cities, such as 
Hamburg and Lti'beck. Each of these principalities was 
self-governing. In addition there were more than two 
thousand distinct fiefs, occupied by knights or church- 
men, which had survived from the Middle Ages. 

1 E. E. C. ( § 525. 2 E. E. C, §§ 526-533. 

3 E. E. C, §§ 704-707. 

197 



198 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Lack of 
unity and 
social 
progress 
(1800). 



Modern 
German 
ideas con- 
trasted 
with old 
German 
ideas. 



German 
philosophy 
and poetry. 



r 



Even at the beginning of the nineteenth century there 
was of course no uniform law for the whole empire ; in 
each state or principality there had survived many 
feudal customs. For example, each local district had its 
own laws, as was the case in France before 1789 (§ 113). 
Serfdom was almost universal throughout the empire, 
although Joseph II had freed the serfs in Austrian 
lands (§ 109), and some other rulers had followed his 
example or had been influenced by the changes in France 
after 1789. 

161. Old German Culture. — We can see from the pre- 
ceding section that at least two ideas which we think of 
as distinctively German must be just as distinctively 
modern, for they were not found in the Germany of 
1800. These two are the idea of unity and the idea 
that everything important is done for the good of the 
whole society rather than for the individual. A century 
and a half ago these ideas had little place in either the 
theory or the practice of the German people. To these 
people Germany was little more than a name ; to them, 
as to most other men in western Europe, the rights of 
man, of the individual, were all -important. This ex- 
treme individualism finds expression in many ways. It 
is particularly prominent in their philosophy and their 
culture. 1 It may account to some slight degree for their 
preeminence in music. 

No other period in the history of German culture con- 
tains as distinguished names as those of the two great 
dramatists and poets of this age. Goethe's (Gu'te) best 
known work is of course the drama Faust. Schil'ler 
was somewhat more versatile than Goethe though less 

1 Starting with the ideas which Rousseau had popularized (§ 105), 
Immanuel Kant, the greatest German philosopher, carried farther 
Rousseau's theory that man should return to nature, for Kant insisted 
that man should not only be natural but'should develop himself the most 
that he could. 



REORGANIZATION OF GERMANY 199 

distinguished as a poet. His history of the Thirty Years' 
War is a valuable study of that period. Wallenstein is 
his best-known drama. 

In the beginning of the eighteenth century we find German 
the earliest of the composers 1 for whom Germany has p reeminence 

in music. 

been noted the last two centuries. Of these we need 
name only two, Mo-zart' and Bee-tho'ven. The musical 
debt owed to old Germany includes their folk songs, 
which have given us the tunes of many of our older 
and more popular songs. 

The old German culture was not only a matter Relation of 
of pride to the German people ; it was an uplifting the old c i ul " 

. n , . .,. , . T , p ture to the 

influence among other civilized nations. Instead of problem of 
solving, however, the problem of disunity which we have unifying 
just considered, and the further problem of reorganiza- 
tion, which we must now take up, these ideas and this 
old German culture worked against rather than for 
nationality. 

162. The Reorganization of Germany after the Peace Extinction 
of Luneville. — Like most other changes made in Ger- ° f a11 
many between 1625 and 1860, the reorganization of the states 
country was forced upon her from without. By treaties west of . 
with Prussia and Austria before 1800 France had ob- 
tained an indefinite right to the lands on the left or west- 
ern bank of the Rhine river. 2 By the Peace of Lune- 
ville (1801, § 145) she gained a clear title to all terri- 
tories west of the Rhine, thus extending her eastern 
boundaries to the Rhine river. Within this area there 
were extinguished one hundred and eighteen separate 
free cities, states, or principalities, which had been mem- 
bers of the Empire. To these princes dispossessed by 
the French, Austria as the head of the empire was com- 

1 Bach and Haydn. 

2 Treaties with Prussia (1795) (§140) and the Peace of Campo 
Formio (1797) (§ 143). 



200 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Extinction 
of very- 
many Ger- 
man states 
east of the 
Rhine. 



The 

struggle for 
territorial 
spoils. 



pelled to promise compensation, that is, other lands 
east of the Rhine. 1 

In point of fact the reorganization of Germany was the 
work of Napoleon and his secretaries. Most of the 
knights' lands ceased to be fiefs. The ecclesiastical 
properties also became integral parts of the states to which 
they belonged territorially. Beside the one hundred and 
eighteen principalities west of the Rhine which were 
destroyed by Napoleon, there were one hundred and sixty 
others east of the Rhine which lost their separate existence. 

To his friends, the rulers of 
the South German states, 
Napoleon gave additional 
territories ; upon some of 
them he conferred the title 
of king. 

In the redivision of lands, 
" Talleyrand and his con- 
fidant Mathieu had no 
occasion to ask for bribes, 
or to maneuver for the 
position of arbiters in Ger- 
many. They were over- 
whelmed with importuni- 
ties. Solemn diplomatists 
of the old school toiled up 
four flights of stairs to the office of the needy secretary, 
or danced attendance at the parties of the witty minister. 
They hugged Talleyrand's poodle; they vied with one 
another in gaining a smile from the child whom he 
brought up at his house. The shrewder of them fortified 




Talleyrand 



1 In order to keep the friendship of the new Russian tsar, Alexander I, 
Napoleon made agreements with Alexander soon after the Peace of Lune- 
ville, by which Russia was to be consulted in the rearrangement of the 
German states. 



REORGANIZATION OF GERMANY 201 

their attentions with solid bargains, and made it their 
principal care not to be out-bidden at the auction. 
Thus the game was kept up as long as there was a 
bishopric or a cit}^ in the market." 1 ' 

163. Later Reorganization (1804-1806). — By this Destruction 
reorganization of Germany the number of states was ° ^ tes d , 
reduced from more than three hundred to fewer than areas as a 
fifty. Moreover, several of the petty states were now ^ Te ^ >ara ' tlon 

J 7 r J for modern 

kingdoms under the protection of Napoleon, at this time united 
by far the most powerful ruler of Europe. This destruc- German y- 
tion of these petty feudal states and fiefs paved the 
way for the formation of a modern Germany. It was 
possible for the small number of surviving states to unite, 
whereas the large number that existed before 1800 could 
never have been brought together voluntarily into a 
modern monarchy or republic. 

Seeing that the Holy Roman Empire had practically End of the 
been destroyed, the Archduke of Austria proclaimed him- ■? y 
self emperor of Austria, a title which the ruler of Austria Empire 
still holds. In 1806 the Holy Roman Empire was for- (1806) - 
malty dissolved by Napoleon. 

In the same year, 1806, Napoleon organized a Confeder- The Con- 
ation of the Rhine, which was intended to form a buffer ^deration 

J ' of the 

state between France and Austria. The confederation Rhine, 
was composed of Bavaria, Wiir'tem-berg, Baden, and 
several other states. The rulers within the Confeder- 
ation of the Rhine were necessarily loyal to Napoleon and 
were forced to furnish him with 63,000 soldiers. In this 
Confederation many French reforms were introduced. 
Serfdom was abolished and everywhere the Code Napo- 
leon was put into operation. One of the states protested 
vigorously that the Code of Napoleon could not possibly 
meet its needs, but, before the protest was heard, the 
code was in excellent working order in that territory, 

1 Fyffe, Modern Europe, 166-167. 



202 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Humilia- 
tion of 
Prussia by- 
Napoleon. 



Military- 
reorganiza- 
tion of 
Prussia 
after 1807. 



and the opposition came to nothing. By the Peace of 
Tilsit, Napoleon, with the consent of Russia, took away 
from Prussia all her territories west of the Elbe river. 
There was organized the kingdom of Westphalia, which 
was given to one of Napoleon's brothers. Westphalia 
and other states in North-Central Germany were included 
in the Confederation of the Rhine. To them French 
ideas and reforms were extended. 

164. Prussia after the Defeat by Napoleon. — The 
loss of her possessions west of the Elbe was not the chief 
change which Napoleon made in Prussia. Practically 
all territory which Prussia had gained in the second 
and third partitions of Poland (§ 65) was organized 
into the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, which was under the 
protection of Napoleon. Furthermore, within the terri- 
tories left to Prussia, less than half her former area, 
the French emperor ruled as a conqueror. He quar- 
tered his troops, numbering more than one hundred 
thousand, in the homes of the Prussian people. In the 
treaty of peace he demanded not only troops, but an in- 
demnity, the amount of which was to be determined later, 
and more than a billion francs werejmdoubtedly taken. 

In the days of the early Hohenzollerns the Prussians 
had been noted for their military prowess. Frederick 
the Great and his father had the best armies in Europe. 
Smarting under the failures of 1806 and 1807, they 
therefore began to reorganize their army. 1 Later, at the 

1 They dismissed practically all of the old commanders. The success 
of the French under Carnot and of other peoples in later years had shown 
that citizen armies were infinitely superior to armies of paid mercenaries. 
At the command of Napoleon 42,000 citizens were trained each year, 
presumably for Napoleon's use, really for Prussia. At the end of a year 
these men were retired or placed in the reserves, their places being taken 
by new recruits. In consequence, when Prussia finally made war on 
Napoleon, she had an army of more than one hundred fifty thousand men 
who had had military training, some of whom had seen actual service 
in war. 



REORGANIZATION OF GERMANY 



203 



time of the " War of Liberation " the Prussians made use 
for the first time of universal military conscription, a 
system which is in use practically everywhere on the 
continent of Europe at the present time. 

The years after 1807 brought other epoch-making Work of 
changes to Prussia. Among these were new universities Ste jJ in 
and schools (§ 169), and a reorganization of municipal reforms and 
government. 1 Since serfdom had been abolished in her uniting 

° Germany. 

former western possessions, now the kingdom of West- 
phalia, and in her former 
eastern territories, now 
the Grand Duchy of War- 
saw, Prussia was forced in 
self-defense to abolish 
serfdom within her own 
boundaries (§ 201). The 
abolition of serfdom and 
the beginning of other 
social reforms were due in 
part to the enthusiasm and 
farsightedness of Prussia's 
minister, Baron vom Stein. 
Stein was a great states- 
man ; more than any other 
man in German public life, 

he was responsible for the regeneration of Germany. He 
preached a united Germany and for it he worked unceas- 
ingly. His idea is expressed best in his own words : 




Stein 



1 In the new central government little share was given to the people, 
but burghers were allowed to select the municipal councils. Although 
this did not apply to the smaller villages, for the smaller villages were still 
too much dominated by the nobles, it is in a real sense the beginning of 
the municipal government which has been so distinguishing a character- 
istic of Germany in the last half century (§§ 000-000). We can see 
from this summary that prolonged wars are likely to bring revolutionary 
changes to a naturally ultra-conservative country like Prussia. 



204 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Form of 
the Con- 
federation 
from 1815 
to 1866. 



" I have but one fatherland, which is called Germany 
. . . with my whole heart I am devoted to it, and not 
to any of its parts." 

165. The German Confederation. — In 1815, after the 
overthrow of Napoleon, Germany was organized into a 
Confederation. There were thirty-eight states, of which 
two, Austria and Prussia, were far more important than 
others. The presidency of the Confederation was vested 
perpetually in the ruler of Austria. In addition there 
were four smaller kingdoms : Bavaria, Wurtemberg, 
Saxony, and Hanover. Hamburg, Bremen, and Liibeck 
were the only three left of the sixty free cities of the 
eighteenth century. The affairs of the Confederation 
were controlled by a diet which met at Frankfort. This 
body, however, was about as inefficient as the American 
Congress under the Confederation, following our Revolu- 
tionary War. This German Confederation managed, or, 
more truly, mismanaged the affairs of the German people 
until it was destroyed by Prussia in 1866. 



The old 
regime and 
the problem 
of modern- 
ization. 



The Reconstruction of Europe (1789-1815) 

166. The Modernization of Western Europe. — Even 
in the last half of the eighteenth century continental 
Europe was in many respects still medieval ; in fact in 
many countries the old regime was a combination of 
medievalism and absolutism. We have noticed (§§ 107— 
109) that the benevolent despots tried to introduce some 
reforms in their own dominions. There were two serious 
limitations, however, on their work : they did not go 
below the surface and they undertook only those reforms 
which appealed to their egotism and pride. Nowhere did 
men gain more political rights ; nowhere were real liberty 
and equality granted. 1 

1 In France, before 1789, less had been attempted than in Austria and 
Prussia. 



RECONSTRUCTION OF EUROPE 205 

The French Revolution asserted that sovereignty The prin- 
rests with the people of a nation rather than with their JjJ^ h 
monarch. But this new idea of the sovereignty of the which 
people attacked the very foundations of absolute mon- w urope d _ 
arcrry, and the idea that the people of any country formed ernized. 
a nation was denied by the local privileges of the provinces 
and by the local patriotism of the people. The revolu- 
tionists also proclaimed three principles which were not 
medieval. These were " Liberty, Equality, Fraternity." 
With these revolutionary ideas* the old regime had noth- 
ing in common. Liberty was meaningless as long as half 
of the common people were still serfs. Equality threat- 
ened the privileges of the church, the nobility, and even 
of the merchant class. With all its power, therefore, the 
old order resisted the attacks of these new ideas when the 
French people, as a nation, demanded personal freedom, 
equal rights before the law, and at least some share in 
their own government. 

With typical French enthusiasm the old order was swept The work 
away in France early in the course of the Revolution. But of the 
a country cannot be organized and governed by ideas, as t ion. 
we find when we compare our own laws and institutions 
with our Declaration of Independence. It required the 
organizing ability of Napoleon to give France a strong 
government that should be modern, though despotic. 
Wherever Napoleon went he carried the ideas of the 
new order. By imitation, or to check the career of the 
French emperor, other countries abolished serfdom, or 
introduced better laws. However, only those lands 
which were under French influence or control for at least 
a decade retained the changes which were introduced 
under the rule of Napoleon ; later, the others either for- 
got or neglected or rejected the new ideas. 

167. The Development of Nationality. — A nation 
may be defined as a group of sovereign people, living 



206 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Early be- 
ginnings 
and slow- 
growth of 
national- 
ity. 



Difficulties 
in forming 
nations ; 
the problem 
of Italy. 



How 

Napoleon's 
conquests 
aroused th( 
national 
spirit of 
Spain and 
Germany. 



within a definite area under a single government, who 
have common ideas in regard to all important public 
interests or policies. Even in the Middle Ages the 
English and the French people were becoming nations. 
Elsewhere in Europe the development of nationality was 
much slower. Even in France the people of the country 
did not wake up to the fact that they formed a nation 
until the last part of the eighteenth century. The de- 
velopment of French nationality was also retarded by the 
systems of local laws and special privileges in different 
provinces and communities (§§3, 113). 

In other countries of the Continent, the number of dif- 
ferent laws, customs, and organizations before 1789 was 
even greater than in France. Only one, Spain, had a 
strongly centralized government. Consequently, it was 
more difficult for the people of these other lands to un- 
derstand what a nation was, and to organize themselves 
into nations. In Italy, to be sure, Napoleon appealed 
directly to the national spirit of the Italian race. Al- 
though Italy was never united under Napoleon, Napoleon 
did create a " Kingdom of Italy," : and the enthusiastic 
Italian liberals looked forward to the time when there 
should be a single, united kingdom of Italy comprising 
the whole Italian peninsula. 

The spirit of Spanish nationality was really aroused 
for the first time when Napoleon conquered Spain in 
1808 and placed his brother Joseph on the throne. For 
the first time in history the Spanish people were really 
united, and they were united to throw off the yoke of their 
conqueror. The patriotic opposition of the Spaniards to 
Napoleon undoubtedly influenced the people of Germany, 
whose leaders urged Germans to unite 2 and overthrow 
the rule of the French emperor. 

1 This included only a -part of northern Italy. 

2 As early as 1806 Fichte (Fik'te) had delivered a series of "Patriotic 



RECONSTRUCTION OF EUROPE 207 

168. The Code Napoleon. — In the opening years of the Before 1800 
nineteenth century, a new era began in the legal and edu- ^Xie* 1 
cational system of western Europe. Frederick the Great had many 
had reduced the old laws of Prussia to a code, 1 but else- [o ^l' e ^ ntl ~ ' 
where the laws were old, unsatisfactory, and incomplete, systems 

as well as local and unjust. After France had abolished of laws- 
the old local systems of law (§ 130), of which she had 
several hundred, and had abolished also the privileges 
and inequalities of the old regime, it was possible to 
have uniform national laws and law codes that would 
be worthy of a great and modern nation. 

A beginning was made before the time of Napoleon, The law 
but the great civil code of 1804, known as the Code codes gave 

; many coun- 

Napoleon, gave France her first modern code of laws, tries new 
This work was completed under Napoleon's direction in na ^onai 

1 L and modern 

four months. 2 It was copied by other nations and is systems of 
now the basis of the civil law in Belgium, Holland, Italy, law- 
and some of the southern and western German states 
(§ 163). French codes for criminal and commercial 
law were added later. It may be said that " the codes 
preserve . . . civil equality, religious toleration, the 
emancipation of land, public trial, the jury of judg- 
ment." 

169. Education. — Education at public expense was The be- 
one of the ideas of the French Revolution (§ 139), but the gin f ng °/ a 

. iii. system of 

revolutionary statesmen were never able to carry their education 
plans into effect. It was left for Napoleon to devise and ^ der , 

, ,. , ,, , Napoleon. 

establish a system of public schools from the primary 
grades to higher institutions of learning. 

Addresses to the German Nation." Stein and other statesmen, philos- 
ophers, and poets also preached a united Germany. 

1 Cf. Austria, § 109. 

2 German critics sneered at work done so hastily and superficially. 
In fact, the code was defective in many particulars, but its principles and 
its existence (as an example to other countries) were of great importance 
to Europe in this period of change. 



208 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Napoleon's 
scheme for 
France and 
its incom- 
plete in- 
troduction. 



New- 
interest of 
Prussia in 
education. 



The educa- 
tion of the 
people to 
the need 
of still 
further 
reform. 



Napoleon divided the schools into several classes : the 
primary or elementary, the secondary or grammar, and the 
lycees or high schools. He aimed to carry out the plans 
of the Convention and have lower schools in each com- 
munity and high schools in all large towns. He organized 
the entire system of schools into the Universitjr of France, 
centralizing it and bringing it under government super- 
vision. At the close of his career, however, Napoleon 
found that the students in private schools outnumbered 
those in his recently established state institutions. 

Not only France but Prussia and other countries im- 
proved their systems of education during this period. In 
spite of the heavy taxes levied on them by Napoleon, the 
Prussians made generous contributions for the new Uni- 
versity of Berlin. 

From this brief summary we can gain some slight idea 
of the influence that the French Revolution and Napo- 
leon exerted on modern Europe. Before 1789 western 
and central Europe had in a half-hearted way sought to 
reform the old regime. In France it was absolutely 
destroyed and a new order of things was established. 
Elsewhere the people began to realize that the old regime 
should be abolished or greatly modified. They did not 
modify it greatly, but they were learning. As is the case 
with all true education, the process was necessarily a slow 
one. As the peoples learned, they demanded the complete 
reform of the old abuses. After a time, if the old privileges 
remained and the new rights were not granted, they 
would rise in their might and wrest them from their rulers 
or other oppressors. 

Reaction and Intervention (1815-1830) 

170. The Congress of Vienna (1815). — After the over- 
throw of Napoleon (§ 157), it was necessary to rearrange 
the map of Europe. To do this diplomats of the great 



20° 

EUROPE 

AFTER THE 
CONGRESS OF VIENNA 

SCALE OF MILES 




R I A 

Longitude East from Greenwich 



REACTION AND INTERVENTION 209 

powers met in Vienna in 1814 and were entertained for Desire of 
months in a round of balls and banquets. They followed the c ° n ~ 

L u gress to 

eighteenth-century methods and ideals. They forgot protect the 
that the national spirit of most of the peoples of Europe grea,t 
had been aroused. They forgot that these peoples wanted 
constitutional governments instead of absolute rulers. 
They forgot that an economic revolution was beginning 
to turn the former serf into a workman and an artisan. 
They forgot everything except that the great rulers of 
Europe must be cared for, and that each ruler must have 
at least as much territory and as many subjects as he had 
before the terrible French Revolution. 

The " Congress " of Vienna was simply an unorganized Problems 
gathering of diplomats from the different European coun- ° f the 
tries, for no session of all the representatives was ever held. 
They insisted on restoring all legitimate rights and ter- 
ritories, but they ended by grasping whatever new lands 
and powers they could find reason for keeping or seizing. 
There was great difference of opinion about the settle- 
ment of conflicting claims. Russia and Prussia, deter- 
mined to have their full share, were opposed by Austria 
and England. Talleyrand, the most skillful and un- 
scrupulous diplomat of his time, not even excepting 
Met'ter-nich, played off these opponents against each 
other and made the place of France secure in the con- 
ferences. The reappearance of Napoleon, and the 
Waterloo campaign, caused the former allies to forget 
their differences and agree upon compromises (June, 1815). 

171. Territorial Changes (1814-1815). — The chief con- Russia 
troversies in the Congress of Vienna were over the dis- j^^ 
posal of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw and over the and Poland, 
territories in Germany ruled by kings or princes friendly 
to Napoleon. In the final arrangement Russia gained 
the chief advantages, inasmuch as she acquired title not 
only to Finland, which had been conquered during the 



210 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 




REACTION AND INTERVENTION 211 

Napoleonic wars, but also to most of the Grand Duchy 
of Warsaw. This Polish territory was organized x as a 
semi-separate kingdom under the tsar of Russia, but with 
a separate constitution of its own. Its location brought 
Russia into far closer relations than formerly with Prus- 
sia on the west and Austria on the south. 

Prussia was anxious to secure in exchange for her former The prob- 
Polish territories the whole of the kingdom of Saxony, lem of i . com " 

' J J . 7 pensation of 

whose king had been a steadfast ally of Napoleon's. This Prussia for 
arrangement was opposed by Austria, which feared the J° st P ol . lsh 
further extension of Prussia southward, and by Talley- 
rand, who believed that Saxony should be retained as a 
kingdom. Instead, Prussia was compensated by Posen, 
by the northern two fifths of Saxony, by Westphalia, and 
by territories on the west bank of the Rhine. These 
territorial arrangements left Prussia with widely scat- 
tered possessions, but it made her a more distinctively 
German power than ever before, and it gave her Rhine 
provinces which made her the natural defender of Ger- 
many against her old enemy, France, certainly an unwise 
arrangement for Talleyrand's native land. 

In return for the Belgian Netherlands, which were other terri- 
united with Holland under the house of Orange, Austria t( ^ Tia] - 

. changes. 

acquired Venetia, Lombardy, and the Illyrian provinces. 
In addition, Habsburg princes occupied the thrones of 
several Italian states. Norway was taken from Denmark 
and given to Sweden, which transferred part of Pome- 
rania to Prussia, and thus lost her last possessions in Ger- 
many. France had about the same territory as in 1789, 
but Great Britain kept Helgoland, Malta, Cape Colony, 
Ceylon, and part of Guiana, which had been seized by 
her during the great wars. 

172. The Restoration in Europe (1815). — In the 
states of western continental Europe after 1815 the powers 
of the monarchs were limited by constitutions, although 



212 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Unimpor- 
tance of the 
new con- 
stitutional 
govern- 
ments. 



The restora- 
tion in 
France. 



The 

German 
Confedera- 
tion. ' 
The 

Restora- 
tion in 
Austria. 



the people had no real share in the government. In 
Spain, for example, the constitution of 1812, granted dur- 
ing the troublous Peninsular wars (§ 154), was discarded 
at once, and a policy was introduced of interfering with 
the freedom of the press and of religion, and of suppressing 
the liberals, that is, those who believed in constitutional 
government. 

In France the Bonapartist adherents were hunted out 
and in some cases shot; Marshal Ney, " the bravest of 
the brave," was one of the victims of this vengeance. 
For a time, however, the liberals gained control of the 
government, until the ultra-royalists, taking alarm once 
more, suppressed liberalism entirely. The}^ tried to de- 
stroy freedom of the press, and they voted a billion francs 
as compensation to nobles for lands which had been con- 
fiscated during the days of the Revolution. 

Germany was reorganized, a confederation of 38 states 
under the leadership of Austria (§ 165) taking the place 
of the Holy Roman Empire whose existence Napoleon 
had brought to a close. In some of the petty German 
states the princes tried to reestablish courts and inequali- 
ties such as existed under the old regime. Austria es- 
tablished her old system of police interference, with " im- 
provements " copied from the methods of Napoleon's 
able chief of police, Fouche (§ 146). l The privileges of 
the nobles and the oppression of the peasants were as 
characteristic of the " Restoration " as of the old regime. 

173. Metternich and the Holy Alliance. — After 1815 
the allies that had beaten Napoleon in the great cam- 
paigns still kept watch over France and over Europe. 



1 "The head of this department boasted that he had 'perfected' the 
system of Fouche, an achievement similar to that of painting the lily. 
Censorship was applied to theaters, newspapers, books. . . . Spies were 
everywhere, in government offices, in places of amusement, in educational 
institutions. Particularly did this government fear the' universities, 
because it feared ideas." Hazen, Europe since 1815, p. 27. 



REACTION AND INTERVENTION 



213 



As they feared the outbreak of either a revolutionary or 
a Bonapartist movement in France, an army of occupa- 
tion was kept in that country. In 1818 the allies held a 
conference at Aix-la-Chapelle, the old capital of Charle- 
magne, for the purpose of deciding whether the army of 
occupation should be withdrawn from France. Strictly 
speaking, this was still the Grand Alliance of Napoleon's 

time, but, practically, 

it was identified with a 
new Holy Alliance. 1 At 
Aix-la-Chapelle France 
was admitted to the 
allied conference, and 
the powers accepted 
the policy of Metter- 
nich, the great Austrian 
minister, of maintain- 
ing the established 
order of things against 
republicanism and rev- 
olution. 

The policy of the 
Holy Alliance is illus- 
trated by the methods 
adopted by Metternich in Germany. A gathering of 
members of a society that had branches in many uni- 
versities had burned some writings that denounced 
liberalism. A year later a Russian, who had been a 
liberal and had turned reactionist, was murdered by a 
German student. Metternich now had no difficulty in 
securing the support of the king of Prussia and the tsar 




Metternich 



The Holy 
Alliance 
opposes 
republican- 
ism in 
Europe. 



The 

Carlsbad 
decrees 
(1819). 



1 The Holy Alliance had been proposed by Alexander I of Russia in 
1815. It was a personal alliance of the emperors of Russia and Austria 
and the king of Prussia to promote religion, peace and order. Other 
princes were asked to join the Alliance. 



214 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Constitu- 
tions in 
Spain, 
Naples, 
and 
""Sardinia. 



of Russia for his policy of suppressing liberalism every- 
where. A meeting of representatives from the larger 
German states was held in 1819, at Carlsbad, and resolu- 
tions were adopted which are called the Carlsbad Decrees. 
These decrees aimed to prevent the teaching of liberal 
ideas in the universities and in other ways to suppress 
the liberals. They represented the attitude of Metter- 
nich toward liberalism, and Metternich's attitude became 
that of the Alliance for several years. 

174. Revolution and Intervention. — The policy of 
suppression soon led to protest in several countries. It 
happened that the kingdoms of Spain and Naples were 
ruled by monarchs of the same name, Ferdinand, each of 
whom gave his country a rule that was disgraceful. 
Many of the American colonies of Spain declared them- 
selves independent, and in 1820 revolutions broke out in 
both these countries, and the Ferdinands were forced to 
grant to their subjects constitutions which were like the 
old Spanish constitution of 1812. The next year the 
people of the kingdom of Sardinia 1 gained for themselves 
a similar consideration. 

Metternich was both alarmed and pleased : alarmed be- 
cause he saw that other peoples would revolt against the 
arbitrary rule of their monarchs unless these revolutions 
were suppressed ; pleased because he could now turn to the 
Alliance and demand that it should intervene in order to 
put down the revolutions. A series of congresses 2 was 
held by the Alliance. Austria was authorized to send 
her troops, first to Naples and then to the kingdom of 
Sardinia, for Italy was under Austria's special care. 
Later, France was asked to send an army to restore the 

1 Although the kingdom of Sardinia takes its name from the island of 
Sardinia, it really was the kingdom of Piedmont in northwestern Italy. 
Compare with the names Prussia and Brandenburg ( § 66) . 

2 Congresses were held at Troppau (1820), Laibach (1821), and 
Verona (1822). 



REACTION AXD INTERVENTION 



215 



Spanish Ferdinand to his throne, a task which she found 
easy. 

175. The Spanish-American Colonies and the Monroe 
Doctrine. — England had protested when the Powers 
intervened in Italy and Spain. When they decided that 
France might help Spain reconquer her rebellious American 
colonies, she did more than protest, as we shall see. 
During the years that Napoleon had tried to rule Spain 
(1808-1814) (§ 154) these colonies had had a taste of 
freedom, and during that interval they had selected some 
of their own rulers and had enjoyed free trade with other 
countries, especially England. England needed mar- 
kets, because she had cheap goods to sell (§ 194) and 
was at this time being shut out of a large part of the Con- 
tinent by Napoleon's continental system (§ 151). After 
the battle of Waterloo 
the Spanish colonies in 
America resented more 
than ever the arbitrary 
and unjust rule of Spain 
and therefore took the first 
occasion to rebel. 

In 1820 England was as 
anxious to have the people 
of Latin-America for cus- 
tomers as she had been in 
1808. She therefore gave 
the Powers to understand 
that although Spain might 
reconquer her colonies if 
she could, no outsiders 
might help her do it. Her 

foreign minister, Canning, proposed to the United States 
that this country join her in a protest against the inter- 
vention of the Alliance in the Spanish colonies. As the 




Canning 



Interest of 
the colonies 
and Eng- 
land in 
their de- 
pendence. 



England 
proposes to 
United- 
States joint 
protest 
against in- 
tervention 
by the Holy 
Alliance. 



216 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



The Monroe 

Doctrine 

(1823). 



End of 
intervention 
for the 
suppression 
of national 
rule. 



Revolt of 
Greece 
against 
Turkey. 



United States did not wish to do anything that would 
lead to an " entangling alliance " with any European 
country, the offer was declined. 

When, however, Congress met some months later (De- 
cember, 1823), President Monroe transmitted his famous 
message containing the statements which we now call the 
original Monroe Doctrine. He declared that we had 
never taken part in purely European affairs and that 
Europe should not interfere in purely American affairs. 
He insisted that America was no longer open to further 
European colonization, 1 and stated, that any attempt on 
the part of the Alliance to suppress republicanism in 
the Spanish-American republics, some of which we had 
already recognized as independent, would be considered 
an unfriendly act toward the United States. 

176. The Independence of Greece. — The plans of 
the Alliance to suppress all people who tried to gain 
independence were checked when they decided to leave 
the Spanish-American colonies alone. But America was 
a long way from Europe, so that the failure to reconquer 
the colonies for Spain did not matter greatly. Events 
in Greece finally put an end to all ideas which the Alliance 
had of intervening in other countries to uphold the 
rights of the reigning monarchs. 

Greece had revolted against the cruel rule of the Otto- 
man Turks, not only because the Turkish rule was bad, 
but because the Greeks had a different religion and 
wanted to govern themselves. The revolt did not suc- 
ceed, but dragged on because the Greeks kept up guer- 
rilla fighting in the hills, with which the country abounds. 

The people of Europe sympathized strongly with the 
revolutionists, for Greece has a glorious history, and in 



1 This statement was inserted because Russia had been attempting to 
extend the boundaries of her colony of Alaska south along the Pacific 
coast. 



REACTION AND INTERVENTION 217 

1827 the Powers sent warships to compel the governor of The allies 
Egypt, who had come to the support of the Turkish ^£ h ™ ece 
Sultan, to withdraw his forces. The Powers did not wish inde- 
to intervene in Greece, either for the Greeks or for the pen ence ' 
Turks. However, the fleet of the allies became involved in 
a battle (Na-va-ri'no, 1827) with the fleet of the governor 
of Egypt, and the Egyptian fleet was destroyed. The 
Powers at once sent troops to Greece, and Turkey was 
obliged to give Greece her independence (1829). After 
the allies had intervened for the independence of a people, 
Metternich's system of intervention for suppression of 
liberalism was not worth much. 

177. Summary. — In 1800 Germany was the most dis- The re- 
united country of Europe. There were more than 300 ^ono?*-"- 
autonomous principalities or cities in addition to about Germany. 
1400 independent noblemen or prelates. Old German 
culture, noted for its philosophy (Kant), its literature 
(Goethe and Schiller), and its music (Wagner and Bee- 
thoven) , made the people content with their achievements 
and indifferent to political unity. Napoleon at Lune- 
ville after 1801 not only took away from the tiny feudal 
or ecclesiastical territories the right to govern themselves, 
but also extinguished the sovereign or governing rights of 
nearly 300 states or cities, 118 of which on the west bank 
of the Rhine were absorbed by France. Napoleon also 
dissolved the Holy Roman Empire (1806), organized the 
Confederation of the Rhine, and modernized western 
Germany by many reforms. When he took away half 
of Prussia's lands and humiliated her in other ways he 
caused her to reorganize her army and military system 
and abolish serfdom. After Napoleon's overthrow in 
1815, a German Confederation of 38 states was organized. 

Before 1789 the old regime was in full force in western The recon- 
continental Europe, for the reforms of the benevolent ^ ructlonof 

Europe. 

despots had not gone below the surface. With the in- 



218 MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



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REACTION AND INTERVENTION 219 

troduction of the French idea that the nation is sovereign, 
and the revolutionary principles of " liberty, equality, 
fraternity," carried by Napoleon's armies, the old regime 
was doomed. Only the French realized in 1789 that they 
formed a nation, but the Italians soon interested them- 
selves in that idea, and Napoleon's conquests and insults 
aroused the national spirit of Spain and of Germany. 
Among reforms carried by Napoleon beyond the borders 
of France were a new system of education and the or- 
ganization of law codes based upon the model of the 
Code Napoleon. 

Western Europe was not ready for such abrupt, radical Reaction 
changes; as soon as Napoleon was overthrown (1815) ^ t ^ n sr " 
its old rulers began to restore their old boundaries, their (1815- 
former methods, and their old rights. They suspended 1830) - 
constitutions forced from them in Napoleon's time. They 
suppressed, by the use of " third degree " methods, free 
speech, democratic movements, and conspiracies against 
their tyranny. By the Carlsbad Decrees in Germany, 
and by decisions of conferences of the important Powers, 
organized into a grand alliance (Holy Alliance) and guided 
by Metternich, they intervened everywhere in Europe 
to suppress insurrection and liberalism. They wanted 
also to regain for Spain the Spanish colonies in America, 
but refrained from doing so when England protested and 
the United States announced the Monroe Doctrine (1823). 
When the western countries helped Greece to gain her 
independence from Turkey (1829), Metternich's scheme 
of intervention lost all its force. 

General References 

Hayes, Political and Social History of Modern Europe, II, 1-62. 
Hazen, Modern European History, 249-279. 
Seignobos, History of Contemporary Civilization, 92-203. 
Fyffe, History of Modern Europe, 166-173, 240-246, 368-602. 



220 MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 

Bourne, The Revolutionary Period in Europe, 267-300, 317— 
339, 367-413. 

Andrews, Historical Development of Modern Europe, I, 86-257. 

Topics 

Reorganization of Germany : Fyffe, History of Modern 
Europe, 167-173, 240-246 ; Ogg, Economic Development of Modern 
Europe, 103-112 ; Stephens, Revolutionary Europe, 225-227, 257- 
261 ; Bourne, The Revolutionary Period in Europe, 292-300. 

Congress of Vienna : Hazen, Modern European History, 
249-257 ; Hayes, Political and Social History of Modern Europe, 
II, 5-14 ; Andrews, Development of Modern Europe, I, 90-102. 

The Holy Alliance and the Reactionary Congresses : 
Seignobos, Political History of Europe since 1814, 747-759; 
Jeffrey, The New Europe, 180-195; Andrews, Development of 
Modern Europe, I, 117-125; Fyffe, History of Modern Europe, 
408-411, 478-513; Cambridge Modern History, X, 1-39. 

Studies 

1. Germany in 1789. Stevens, Revolutionary Europe, 33-40. 

2. Work of the Revolution, Seignobos, History of Contem- 
porary Civilization, 121-135. 

3. Significance of the era of Napoleon. Hayes, Political 
and Social History of Modern Europe, I, 573-576. 

4. The restoration in France. Hazen, Modern European 
History, 270-276. 

5. The reaction in Germany. Muller, Political History of 
Recent Times, 1-22. 

6. The reaction in Spain and Portugal. Hayes, Political 
and Social History of Modern Europe, II, 20-28. 

7. Canning and his policies. Fyffe, History of Modern 
Europe, 517-524. 

8. The independence of Greece. Hayes, Political and Social 
History of Modern Europe, II, 47-50. 

Questions 

1. Explain the following conditions in Germany before the 
nineteenth century : political disunity, lack of social develop- 
ment, German ideas and philosophy, German literature and 
music. 



RECONSTRUCTION AND REACTION 221 

2. What was the nature and the extent of German re- 
organization after the Peace of Luneville? What was the 
significance of reorganization at that time, of the abolition of 
the Holy Roman Empire, and of the formation of a Confedera- 
tion of the Rhine? 

3. Compare the territory of Prussia before 1806 and after 1807. 
Describe the new military policy of the Prussians and compare 
it with that used by them to-day. What great work for Prussia 
and Germany was accomplished by Baron Stein? How was 
the German Confederation organized after 1815? Compare 
it with the United States under the Confederation. 

4. Name the three great principles of the French Revo- 
lution and show specifically how each affected the old regime. 
Define the term nation. To what extent had nations been 
formed before 1789? The national spirit of what peoples was 
aroused by Napoleon? (Explain in what way in each case.) 
In what countries is the law at present based upon the Code 
Napoleon? What was done for education during this period? 

5. Explain the problem of the Congress of Vienna. Describe 
in detail the territorial changes, showing particularly what 
Russia, Prussia, and Austria lost or gained by the shifts. 

6. What is meant by the restoration? by the reaction 
after 1815? What was the nature of the restoration in general 
in Europe ; in France, Germany, Austria, and Spain in particu- 
lar ? What was the Grand Alliance ? What was the Holy Alli- 
ance ? Why do people usually speak of either after 1818 as the 
Holy Alliance ? 

7. What were the Carlsbad Decrees? What was the effect 
of the Revolution of 1820 ? What policy was used by the Powers 
of Europe? Name at least two general congresses and show 
what liberal movements were suppressed by each. 

8. Give some idea of the history of the Spanish colonies be- 
fore 1808. Why were they half free from 1808 to 1814 ? When 
they revolted about 1820, what was the attitude toward them 
taken : (a) by the Holy Alliance ; (6) by England ; (c) by the 
United States ? Name three important principles of the Monroe 
Doctrine. 

9. What was the extent of Turkish territory in Europe in 
1700. (See map opposite page 71.) How much had that area 
been reduced before 1800? Show the importance of the Greek 
revolution in relation to general European affairs. 



in common. 



CHAPTER IX 
THE ECONOMIC REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND 

England before the Industrial Revolution 

Disadvan-i 178. Agriculture at the Beginning of the Eighteenth 
open S fieid he Century. — The three-field system, better known as the 
system with open-field system, 1 which was used on the medieval Eng- 
lon lish manor, continued in use over about three fifths of 
England until the eighteenth century. 2 This system, as 
we have seen, was exceedingly wasteful, as one third of 
the land was uncultivated each year. The numerous 
strips of each tenant were separated so that he was com- 
pelled to travel an unnecessarily long distance in order 
to visit or cultivate all of them. Since all of the strips in 
any one field were plowed or harrowed at one time, and 
since the same crop was sowed over a large area, it was 
impossible for any one tenant to improve his. methods 
unless all his neighbors agreed to do the same thing. For 
example, if one tenant wished to drain his land, he aroused 
the anger of the neighbor on whose land the water was 
turned. It was not possible for any one to introduce 
new crops, such as clover or root vegetables, unless all 
the villagers did the same. A careful farmer, who had 

i E. E. C, § 492. 

2 Not only was most of the land in England still cultivated under the 
three-field system, but an immense area, probably one third of the arable 
area of the country, was waste land, swamps, or moors covered with wild 
grasses or brush. Other waste lands were to be found on almost every 
estate. Much excellent agricultural land was also used for grazing. 
On this land a single flock of sheep for each estate was herded by the shep- 
herd. 

222 



ENGLAND BEFORE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 223 

removed the weeds from his own land, found that the 
seeds from his neighbors' strips produced new weeds 
which quickly choked his growing crops. 

It is quite true that two fifths of the farmers of England Backward 
had already abandoned the open field system and had se- JJ ethods °* 

^ J _ the separate 

cured for themselves as tenants separate, compact little tenant 
farms. These compact farms were usually cultivated more farmers - 
successfully, allowing a larger crop of grain than did a sim- 
ilar number of acres under the open field system. How- 
ever, many of these farms were very small, and the farmers 
lacked sufficient capital to bay horses, cattle, and sheep, 
to purchase the best plows and harrows, to drain the 
land properly, and to have suitable sheds for housing their 
stock. In order to use the best farming methods known 
at the beginning of the eighteenth century, it was neces- 
sary for agriculturists to have fairly large farms and a 
relatively large amount of capital. 

179. Home Industry for Home Use. — We speak of Some ar- 
the English country people as agriculturists or farmers, * lcles ™ ade 
yet they were very much more than that. The freehold of the vil- 
farmer as well as the tenant dwelt with his family in a tiny lage farmer - 
farmhouse, in which many indoor occupations were fol- 
lowed when the weather was bad and it was impossible 
to work out of doors. " Women spun wool into coarse 
cloth ; men tanned their own leather. Wealth only 
existed in its simplest forms, and natural divisions of 
employment were not made, because only the rudest 
implements of production were now used. The rough 
tools required for the cultivation of the soil, and the rude 
household utensils needed for the comfort of daily life, 
were made at home. In the long winter evenings farm- 
ers, their sons, and their servants carved the wooden 
spoons, the platters, and the beechen bowls ; fitted and 
riveted the bottoms into the horn mugs, or closed, in 
coarse fashion, the holes in the leathern jugs. They 



224 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Home 
weaving 
and spin- 
ning of 
home raw 
materials. 



plaited the wicker baskets ; fitted handles to the scythes, 
rakes, and other tools; cut the staves, and fixed the 
thongs for the flails ; made the willow or ashen teeth for 
rakes and harrows, and hardened them in the fire ; fash- 
ioned ox yokes and forks, racks, and rack-staves ; twisted 
willows into scythe cradles, or into the traces and other 
harness gear. Traveling carpenters, smiths, and tinkers 
visited farmhouses and remoter villages at rare intervals 
to perform those parts of the work which needed their 
professional skill. But every village of any size found 
employment for such trades as those of the smith and 
carpenter. Meanwhile the women plaited the straw 
for the neck-collars, stitched and stuffed sheepskin bags 

for the cart saddle, 
wove the stirrups and 
halters from hemp 
or straw, peeled the 
rushes for and made 
the candles. Spinning 
wheels, distaffs, 
needles, were never 
idle. Coarse home- 
made cloth and linen 
supplied all wants." x 

180. Home Industry 
for Woolen Markets. 
— In the attic of his 
home the farmer plied 
his loom, weaving into 
cloth the yarn which 
had been spun by the 
women of the house- 
hold. Our word spinster shows that the unmarried sisters 
or daughters of the farmer devoted special attention to 

1 Traill and Mann (eds.), Social England, V, 132-133. 




Spinning Yarn 



ENGLAND BEFORE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 225 

the spinning wheel. The wool from which the yarn and 
cloth was made usually came from the sheep belonging to 
the farmer. In consequence this one little farm supported 
by its agriculture an entire family, and, by its yarn and 
cloth products brought extra money for the purchase of 
some comforts and luxuries. 

Daniel DeFoe, who is best known to us as the author DeFoe's 
of Robinson Crusoe, gives us a graphic picture of a J^ "^th 1 
district in northern England, in which the people devoted England 
more attention to spinning and weaving than they did ^staic" 8 " 
to farming. This country he says is blessed by abundant 
power. " I mean coals, and running water on the tops 
of the highest hills. I doubt not but there are both 
springs and coals lower in these hills ; but were they to 
fetch them thence, it is probable the pits would be too 
full of water : it is easy, however, to fetch them from the 
upper parts, the horses going light up, and coming down 
loaden. This place, then, seems to have been designed 
by providence for the very purposes to which it is now 
allotted, for carrying on a manufacture, which can no- 
where be so easily supplied with the conveniences neces- 
sary for it. Nor is the industry of the people wanting 
to second these advantages. Though we met few people 
without doors, yet within we saw the houses full of lusty 
fellows, some at the dye-vat, some at the loom, others 
dressing the cloths; the women and children carding, 
or spinning; all employed from the youngest to the 
oldest; scarce anything above four years old, but its 
hands were sufficient for its own support. Not a beggar 
to be seen, nor an idle person, except here and there in 
an alms-house, built for those that are ancient, and past 
working." 

181. Condition of the Agricultural Classes. — At the Different 
beginning of the eighteenth century more than half of classes - 
the population of England was engaged in agriculture. 



226 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Standards 
of living. 



British 
and 

Huguenot 
artisans. 



A sharp distinction should be made between the landed 
aristocrat, the freeholder who owned a very small farm, 
the tenant who rented from the aristocrat a farm of 
twenty or thirty acres, either in strips or in a single com- 
pact area, and the cottar, who occupied a cottage on the 
" waste," with two or three acres of land. 

Because of the industry of the people, they were com- 
paratively comfortable and enjoyed a decent standard 
of life. Unfortunately, more money was spent for ale 
and beer than for any other commodity, but if the 
beer was home-brewed, it might be considered food as 
well as drink. Meat was used much more commonly 
than it had been in the days of Chaucer, or in the time 
of Shakespeare. Meat was not yet eaten, however, 
by most of the poorer people, and they were obliged to 
depend chiefly upon porridges or dishes made up of 
wheat, rye, and other grains. Neither prices nor rents 
were very high. Nevertheless, many people in England 
during the first half of the eighteenth century were 
obliged to secure help from the government in the form 
of poor relief. 

182. Industry, Old and New. — Although most goods 
were manufactured in the homes of the workers, there 
were many artisans employed in shops in the towns. In 
addition to the craftsmen of English descent, these arti- 
sans included many skilled immigrants, chief among 
them the Huguenots, who fled from France even before 
the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, but particularly 
after Louis XIV unwisely took away their religious rights 
and privileges (§ 57). These Huguenot workers were 
especially famous as silk weavers; in consequence the 
manufacture of silk became an important English indus- 
try. They were also skillful in the making of sails and 
of lace. In addition to the wool and silk industries a large 
amount of linen was spun and woven by the people, chiefly 



ENGLAND BEFORE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 227 



Ol.D-FASHIOXED HaND LOOM 



in rural districts in Scotland and in Ireland. Iron manu- 
facturing was developing to some extent, and coal was 
mined more extensively than in any former time. 

During the early part of the eighteenth century a new The work of 
capitalist class was engaged in the cloth industry. They ^^^ >> 
would buy wool from the farmers, gathering it over a large 
area and transporting it on pack horses to workers 
who would clean and card it. It was then transported 
to those who spun the wool into the thread or yarn 
and carried, possibly 
a long distance, to the 
master weaver who 
turned out the finished 
cloth. From these 
again the " clothier 
capitalists" took the 
cloth, which they sent 
to market, usually at a 
distance. This work 
of the early eighteenth 
century capitalists was 
an attempt to organize 
the cloth industry on 

a large scale, making use of the special advantage 
of one section of country for the raising of sheep and 
the cultivation of wool, and also of the skill of par- 
ticularly competent carders and spinners and weavers in 
other sections. 

We can see from this brief survey that agricultural Old 

and industrial methods in England in the earlv part of me thods 

• i i ■ • i i anc * new m 

the eighteenth century were crude compared with those the early 

in use to-day. We can see also in the tendency to aban- eighteenth 

C*PTl1"llT r V 

don the obnoxious open field system, in the introduction 
of new crops and methods, in the newer organization of the 
industries, and most of all in the more extensive use of 




228 MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 

. capital in farming and in manufacturing, the beginning 
of those agrarian and industrial revolutions which created 
a new England before the middle of the nineteenth cen- 
tury. 

The Agrarian Revolution 

Methods 183. Early Improvements in Agriculture. — Dutch 

from°the farmers whose land was limited in amount had proved 
Dutch. long before 1700 that it was not necessary to leave a 

third or a quarter of the arable land uncultivated. By a 
wise rotation of crops, planting grain one year and some 
entirely different crop the next on the same field, they 
had shown that continuous cultivation was possible and 
desirable. A few Englishmen who had separate farms 
began to copy the methods of the Dutch and other 
advanced and progressive continental farmers. They 
planted clover or vegetables with deep roots which would 
stir up the soil and give it a chance to renew itself. 
Work of the In England there were a number of men who experi- 
experi~ ng S m ented with new crops and methods. One of these, 
mentera. Jethro Tull, instead of planting vegetables in a haphazard 
fashion, made use of a drill which planted seeds at the 
proper depth and the proper distance apart. Another 
of the enthusiasts for the new agriculture was Lord Town- 
shend, who devoted to the cultivation of turnips a fair part 
of his estate, on which it was said that two rabbits had 
fought for every blade of grass. Before this time there 
had been so little hay and fodder for the cattle that it 
was necessary to kill most of them in the fall, preserving 
the meat with salt for use in winter. By the use of tur- 
nips and other foods it was possible to keep a supply of 
fodder for'cattle in winter, and the cattle could be fattened 
far t more than formerly. Posterity feels gratitude toward 
this man. ridiculed by his contemporaries and nicknamed 
" Turnip Townshend." 



THE AGRARIAN REVOLUTION 



229 



184. New Demands for Food, and Later Improvements. 

— The agrarian and industrial revolutions made Eng- 
land rich. Towns grew rapidly and there was a greater 
demand for food than had existed before. Many farmers 
were therefore willing to try the new agriculture because 
larger crops were a necessity. 

Before this time the cattle and sheep of England had 
been used comparatively little for food. In fact farmers 
had preferred oxen with long shanks and heavy bones 
suitable for dragging a wooden plow through heavy turf 
to cattle with large bodies and a tendency to fat. 
They also preferred those breeds of sheep that gave a 
good crop of wool, because the carcass was very seldom 
used. During this century, however, the demand for 
food made it desirable to raise cattle and sheep chiefly 
for the market. 1 

185. Enclosures (1750-1840). — With the demand 
for more food and new methods it was necessary to aban- 
don the old open field system and enclose in compact 
farms all cultivated land, including the commons. 2 The 
costs, of this were considerable. Since the nobles who 
owned the great estates usually had far more capital than 
the small farmers — especially if the oldest son had mar- 
ried the daughter of a large merchant or if a successful 
business man had bought up the estate — the large landed 
proprietors gained most of the advantages which came 



Influence of 
wealth and 
growth of 
population. 



Raising 
cattle and 
sheep if or 
food. 



Whyenclo- 

sures 

created 

large 

landed 

estates. 



1 In 1710 the average weight of cattle sold in the Smithfield market 
was 370 pounds ; in 1795 it was 800. The average weight of calves 
increased from 50 pounds to 148 ; of sheep from 28 to 80'; of lambs from 
18 to 50. This shows clearly that although most farm animals in 1700 
may have been chiefly "skin and bone," they were really valuable for 
food by the end of the century. 

2 In a few cases enclosure was brought about by the common consent 
of all the farmers of an estate. Ordinarily it took place under a general 
act of Parliament. The enclosure not only caused abandonment of the 
old open fields with their numerous separate strips, but it also included 
most of the commons and a very large amount of waste land. 



230 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Effect of en- 
closure on 
some ten- 
ants, free- 
holders, 
and cottars. 



Ownership 
of land by 
landed 
.aristocracy. 



from enclosure and the new agriculture. It benefited 
also the progressive, ambitious tenant. 

There were several classes living in the rural districts 
that were injured rather than benefited by the enclosure 
system. Among these were the ordinary tenant farmers 
who had neither the capital nor the skill to make use of 
new opportunities. If they could not remain as tenants, 
they became laborers for their former landlord or some 
fellow farmer, or they drifted to the towns, where they 
found work in the factories, or they became public charges. 
Another class which suffered was the small landowner, 
the descendant of the freeholder of the Middle Ages. 
His problem was similar to that of the tenant class just 
considered, because his farm was too small for the new 
agriculture and he usually lacked capital for necessary 
improvements. It was wiser, therefore, for him to sell 
his land to the landed proprietor than to attempt to cul- 
tivate it for himself. Enclosure was fatal for the cottar 
class, since there were only a limited number of cottages. 
It was not possible therefore for a young laborer to marry 
and settle down until some cottage was vacant. With 
the enclosure of the open fields and the waste, the cottars 
were left between the devil and the deep sea, so that 
cottars as a class disappeared from England. 

186. General Results of the Agrarian Revolution. — 
These changes of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries 
radically transformed the land situation in England. 
In 1700 one farmer out of three owned or had, by custom, 
tenant rights in a farm of more than five acres. In 1900 
less than a quarter of a million persons cultivated their 
own land. During the last fifty years several laws have 
been passed for the purpose of increasing the number of 
land-owners in England and in Ireland. The success of 
the latter we shall study later (§ 000). The former have 
accomplished little because before January, 1911, only 



THE AGRARIAN REVOLUTION 



231 



eight thousand applicants x had been cared for, with a 
total of less than 100,000 acres. It will thus be seen that 
although the agrarian revolution improved England agri- 
culturally, it helped to make England a country of large 
landed proprietors, and helped to hasten the disappear- 
ance of that yeoman class which had made her famous 
in the Middle Ages. 



The Industrial Revolution 

187. First Improvements in Spinning and Weaving. 

— As we have already seen, in the period before 1750 
spinning and weaving were done at home. 2 As spinning 
was a simple process compared with weaving, it was 
performed by women or girls in their spare moments. 
The weaving on the contrary was hard work, which could 
be done only by men. A long-armed man had a decided 
advantage over a short man, because it was necessary to 
throw the shuttle across from one side to the other. If 
only one man was at work at a loom, the cloth was of 

1 Two farmers out of five live outside of the towns. In 1876 in the 
country "nearly one half of the enclosed land of England and Wales was 
owned by 2250 persons ; while at the same time nine tenths of Scotland 
was owned by 1700, and two thirds of Ireland by 1942." 

2 "The first necessary step in cloth making is to straighten out the 
threads of the fibre, which is done in the case of wool by combing, in the 
others by carding, both being done at that time by hand implements. 
The next step is spinning, that is, drawing out the fibres, which have been 
made parallel by carding, into a slender cord, and at the same time 
twisting this sufficiently to cause the individual fibres to take hold one of 
another and thus make a thread of some strength. . . . When the 
thread had been spun it was placed upon the loom ; firmly spun ma- 
terial being necessary for the "warp" of vertical threads, softer and less 
tightly spun material for the "woof" or "weft," which was wrapped on 
the shuttle and thrown horizontally by hand between the two diverg- 
ing lines of warp threads. After weaving, the fabric was subjected to a 
number of processes of finishing, fulling, shearing, dyeing, if that had not 
been done earlier, and others, according to the nature of the cloth or the 
kind of surface desired." (Cheyney, Ind. and Soc. Hist, of England, 
205-206.) 



Spinners 

and 

weavers. 



232 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Kay's flying 
shuttle and 
the demand 
for spun 
yarn. 



Improve- 
ments in 
spinning 
machines. 



necessity narrow, because he could not throw or hand the 
shuttle across a wide space. For the weaving of broad 
cloth two men were needed. 

Since many people were engaged in spinning, there 
was usually an abundant supply of yarn, although one 
weaver could keep four or five spinners busy. In 1733 
Kay patented a flying shuttle which was thrown across 
from one side to the other by alternately pulling two 
cords. This left both of the weaver's hands free for weav- 
ing and permitted one weaver to make cloth much wider 
than before. As it also increased greatly the demand for 
spun yarn, many weavers were idle because there was 
not sufficient material to keep them occupied. 

188. Later Inventions in the Textile Industry. — The 
supply of yarn and thread remained inadequate for many 
years. In 1764 a weaver named Har 'greaves, noticing 
that a spinning wheel which had been accidentally over- 
turned continued to revolve, invented a machine in which 
eight threads could be spun at the same time. This he 
called the " spinning jenny." A few years later Richard 
Arkwright for the first time applied power other than 
hand power to the making of textiles. He invented a 
water frame in which the spinning was done by water 
power. Less than ten years after this improvement, 
Crompton combined the inventions of Hargreaves and 
Arkwright into a single machine called a " spinning 
mule" which made use of water as power and spun a finer 
and stronger thread than any of the older machines had 
been able to turn out. It can easily be seen that these 
three successive inventions made it possible for the 
spinners to produce very much more yarn than the hand 
weavers could possibly use. 

In 1785 a clergyman named Cartwright made the first 
power loom, by which weaving was done, not by hand but 
by power. It was nearly thirty years, however, before 



INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 



233 



this loom was practicable. When power looms did come 
into common use, however, after the overthrow of Napo- 
leon, they revolutionized the textile industry more than 
all previous inventions. 

In spite of the fact that wool raising, spinning, and 
weaving had been the chief industries of England for 
centuries, these inventions were made first for the cotton 
rather than for the wool industry. The last of the series 
of inventions which was to make cotton cheap and usable 
was not completed in England at all, but by a Con- 
necticut Yankee, Eli Whitney (1793). Whitney's contri- 
bution, of course, was the cotton gin, which separated 
the cotton fiber from the seeds a thousand times as rapidly 
as it could be done on the southern plantations by negro 
hand labor. 

189. The Steam Engine. — The invention of new 
machinery for spinning and weaving was only part of 
the great Industrial Revolu- 
tion, because similar changes 
were brought about by the 
discovery of new means for 
developing power, that is, new 
uses for coal and new means 
for utilizing steam for power. 
The iron industry also was 
reorganized at this period, 
and new and better methods 
of transportation were de- 
vised. 

About the beginning of the 
eighteenth century an inven- 
tor named Newcomen im- 
proved an old " steam engine" so that the great 
expansive power of steam could be used in pumping 
water out of mines and in lifting weights. Newcomen 1 s 



Invention 
and adop- 
tion of 
power 
looms. 

Completion 
of cotton 
manufac- 
turing in- 
ventions. 




Newcomen's Steam Engine 



Other 
phases of 
the Indus- 
trial Revo- 
lution. 



Watt in- 
vents a 
practical 
steam 
engine. 



234 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Improve- 
ments in 
the form 
of iron. 



Develop- 
ment of 
iron foun- 
dries and 
coal mining 
in northern 
England. 



engine was exceedingly crude. 1 In 1763 James Watt, 
a mathematical instrument maker, was asked by the 
University of Glasgow to repair a Newcomen engine. 
He began immediately to experiment with means by 
which the steam could be drawn off from the cylinder 
and condensed without the wasteful process of cooling 
the engine. After several years he was able to make 
a practical condenser, and by 1776 the steam engine 
was being used as a source of power in a number of 
ways. In time the steam engine was improved wonder- 
fully; it was used in transportation on steamboats and 
for locomotives, as well as for the mechanical power that 
was produced by the engine of the stationary type. 

190. Iron and Coal. — The development and perfection 
of these machines, especially when used for power or with 
power, gave impetus to both the iron industry and coal 
mining. Before this time iron had been exceedingly 
brittle, but a series of inventors, of whom Cort may be 
remembered, developed new methods of smelting and 
cooling iron. By a process of stirring the semi-liquid, 
smelted iron, Cort was able to get rid of a large part of 
the carbon which had made the metal brittle. His iron 
was known as malleable iron, because it could easily be 
worked into different forms and shapes without break- 
ing. It was much stronger than the older kind of iron. 

In the older process of iron making, charcoal had been 
used extensively, but inventors discovered means for 
making coke out of coal and using the coke in the smelting 
of iron. Since the best coal beds are located in the north 
of England or in Wales, the new iron industries were 
established in northern England, just as the new textile 



1 After the steam had entered the cylinder and driven up the piston, 
it was necessary to spray cold water into the cylinder in order to condense 
the steam. This cooled the cylinder very much, and it took a great deal 
of steam to heat it again properly. 




4 West 3 Longitude 2 from 1 Greenwich East 1 



INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 235 

factories were also established in northern and north- 
western England, where they had abundant water power 
and were close to extensive coal beds. 

It was soon found that factories which used steam importance 

power turned out a much larger product than those that ^^ds j n 

depended on waterfalls. There arose in consequence a coal mining, 

great demand for coal, which is second to no other prod- of ^ 1 * 1011 

uct of England in the development of her industries women and 

and commerce. New methods of coal mining were devel- c - 1 n m 

° mines. 

oped. The Watt steam engine was used by progressive 
mine owners in pumping out water, in sinking deeper 
shafts, and lifting coal out of the mine. Less progres- 
sive mine operators still clung to the older processes by 
which the coal was carried by women or children along 
the galleries of the mine and by ladders to the surface of 
the ground. We shall notice later (§ 000) that the con- 
ditions in these mines were very bad until the middle of 
the nineteenth century. 

191. Transportation. — In the first half of the eight- Constmc- 
eenth century England followed the example of Hol- 
land, France, and Prussia in the construction of artificial 
waterways or canals. The first important canal was that 
made by the Duke of Bridgewater, who possessed large 
coal mines seven miles from the town of Manchester. 
Finding that the cost of transporting coal on horseback 
was too expensive as the demand for coal grew, the Duke 
connected his estate with Manchester by canal. He was 
able to carry coal to the city for a maximum charge of 
six shillings a ton, a price much less than the former cost. 
Other canals were built, among them one connecting 
Manchester with the sea, which has since developed into 
the Manchester ship canal and has made Manchester a 
seaport. By 1830 England had nearly four thousand 
miles of canals and navigable rivers. 

This same period witnessed the improvement of the 



tion of 
canals. 



236 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Improved 
surfacing 
and greater 
use of main 
highways. 



Develop- 
ment of the 
modern 
steamship. 



execrable highways (§ 48), some of which became turn- 
pikes. A Scotch engineer, Macadam, devised a plan of 
surfacing roads with crushed stone, a method which sur- 
vives in the pavement known as macadam. Although 
the main highways were improved somewhat, the ordi- 
nary road was in wretched condition until late in the 
nineteenth century. Passengers were carried over these 
highways in special coaches which made excellent time. 
The trip from London to Edinboro, a distance of 395 
miles, was covered in forty-two hours and thirty-two 
minutes. Several shorter trips were made at the rate 
of from ten to eleven miles an hour. 1 

192. The Application of Steam to Transportation. — 
The steam engine was used much earlier in steamboats 
than on railways. This was probably due to the fact 
that boats were in use before its invention, whereas rail- 
ways were not developed until later. Different inventors, 
English and American, had tried to propel boats by steam 
before Robert Fulton succeeded in making the steamboat 
a success. In 1807 his " sidewheeler," the Clermont, 
made voyages from New York to Albany. Within a 
few years a sailing vessel, the Savannah, propelled in 
part by steam, crossed the ocean, but it was not until 
1837 that steamers made this longer voyage. Nor was 
the screw propeller which is used now for steamships 
invented by John Ericson until some years later. 

In order to reduce the jolting and the friction to which 
coaches were exposed on turnpikes, rails were laid on 

1 Speed rather than comfort must have been the object desired, for 
the travelers of that day make as many unkind remarks about the high- 
ways as did the travelers a century earlier (§ 48). The apparent cost 
of these trips was not excessive because, if one rode outside, the actual 
fare reckoned in shillings and sovereigns was usually less than that of the 
first class railway carriage at the present time, and only about double 
that of the third class charges on British railways to-day. Of course the 
shilling in that day had a much higher purchasing power than has the 
shilling of to-day. 



INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 



237 



highways or on private rights of way. The first coaches Early rail- 
were drawn by horses and it was not until the close of the ^° d 
wars against Napoleon that locomotives were first used tives. 
for hauling coaches 
or cars. The " Puf- 
fing Billy" (1813) 
was .practically the 
first steam locomo- 
tive. About 1825 
the first railways 
were constructed in 
England and in 
America. They be- 
came really success- 
ful when George 
Stephenson, in com- 
petition with other 
inventors, made an 
improved engine, 
"the Rocket/' 
which drew a load 
at the high speed 

of thirteen miles per hour. These applications of steam 
to water and land transportation have revolutionized 
travel, expanded commerce, and united distant territories 
and peoples. 




The " Puffing Billy 



Effects of Economic Changes 

193. Economic Changes Connected with the Industrial 
Revolution. — These changes which we have considered 
affected England in many ways. They caused an entire 
shifting of the population of the country. Whereas 
before 1750 the most populous counties had been found 
in the southeast, or in the south central part of England, 
within the following half century or century the center 



Shifting of 
population 
to northprn 
England. 



238 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



i^5 





EFFECTS OF ECONOMIC CHANGES 239 

of population outside of London shifted to the northern 
counties. These northern counties had numerous fairly 
swift rivers, and they contained or were near the best 
English deposits of iron and coal. 1 

Not only did these industrial changes cause a shift- Evolution 
ing of the population of England toward the north, but ^ory 
they also led to the concentration of the population in system. 
villages and towns. It was cheaper to have the buildings 
where the carders worked near those in which the spin- 
ners were employed or weavers tended their looms. Later, 
some capitalists erected large factories in which there were 
thousands of spindles or a large number of power looms, 
thus they also brought under a single roof all or practi- 
cally all of the different processes by which the raw wool 
or cotton was transformed into finished cloth. Because 
of this the factory system with its huge buildings, noisy 
machines, and large output became the necessary result 
of the Industrial Revolution. 

194. Effect on Prices and Home Industry. — It Great 
stands to reason that, if a boy or girl could look after Reduction 
machines on which several hundred spindles were turn- f textiles 
ing, yarn should be very much cheaper than it had been and other 
in the days when a woman gave her entire attention to 
a single old-fashioned spinning wheel. Possibly the 
most important economic result of the Industrial Revo- 
lution was the very great decrease in the price of articles 
now manufactured by machinery. Unfortunately we 
cannot say the same thing of the price of farm products, 
because, although new and better methods were used, 

1 The climate of many northern cities is particularly adapted to the 
manufacture of cotton, which can be woven best in a moist atmosphere, 
and they introduced the new inventions earlier than others. Of English 
cities to-day which have more than 250,000 inhabitants, practically all 
except London and Liverpool are located in the industrial district of north 
central England. Manchester, Birmingham, and Leeds are the three 
most important of these cities. 



240 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Effect of 
the Indus- 
trial Revo- 
lution on 
household 
industry. 



Condition 
of work 
in the te m 
tories. 



the common people paid as much for wheat and many 
vegetables as before. 1 

The Industrial Revolution not only destroyed the open- 
field system and caused a shifting of population from 
country to factory towns, but it also destroyed home 
industry. After 1820 it was impractical for any farmer 
to spend half his time weaving, because he could not 
compete with the new power looms. Long before that 
time the spinning wheel of the ordinary farmer's home 
had been relegated to the attic or the woodshed. Even 
if " home-spun " was made for members of the family, 
it was no longer profitable to spin yarn by hand for the 
market. These changes meant that a farmer who before 
had supplemented his income from the soil by the sales 
of yarn or homespun cloth was now deprived of that 
extra income. It meant further that the weaver who 
had been able to weave a few hours and work in his 
garden the rest of the time must now devote himself 
exclusively to agriculture or to standing ten or twelve 
hours at a stretch before a power loom. 

195. Effects of the Factory System. — The factory 
system made England rich and made textiles cheap ; 
but it took heavy toll of human lives. In the early days 
of the factories and the factory towns, conditions were 
almost indescribably bad. The factory itself was a hot, 
damp, dirty, unventilated place, in which the workers 
spent long hours of almost unremitting toil. If most of 
the workers had been men, this would have been endur- 

1 There are two reasons why the prices of agricultural products were 
kept up. The first was the corn laws which prohibited the importation 
of grain or permitted it only when prices of wheat, barley, and oats were 
excessively high in England. The second reason was the fact that the 
landed aristocracy controlled most of the farm land in England. Con- 
sequently, in order to freeze out the small tenant, they raised rents to a 
point several times as high as they had been a century earlier. It was 
possible to ask these high rents because the new agriculture had made the 
farms more productive. 



EFFECTS OF ECONOMIC CHANGES 241 

able ; but, as the machines were improved and simplified, 
most of the processes were performed not by men but by 
women and children. In some cases, before the govern- 
ment interfered, women and even children were compelled 
to work fifteen, sixteen, and even eighteen hours a day. 
Since the workers were rapidly exhausted by these ter- 
rible strains, it was constantly necessary to secure more 
labor. Overseers of the poor sold to grasping factory 
owners the services and, in fact, the bodies of the children 
who were in their charge. Nominally these children 
became apprentices of the capitalists ; actually they were 
slaves. 1 

Possibly it did not matter much to boys or girls or Living and 
women who worked at least fifteen hours a day in what slee 5-^ g ns 
kind of home they lived or in what kind of quarters they in factory 
slept, yet the living conditions of these first factory towns - 
workers were, if anything, less satisfactory than the con- 
ditions in the factory itself. The first shacks or sheds 
erected in the factory towns were filthy and unfitted for 
human habitation. As the factory towns grew into good- 
sized communities, tenements replaced the shacks. In 
the dark, dirty rooms of these buildings the child tried 
to recuperate with four or five hours' sleep before a new 
day of heavy toil ; he was fortunate if he was not one of 
the " submerged tenth " who lived in a cellar. 

Influence of the Economic Revolution on England 
as a World Power 

196. Degree of Industrial Development. — Ever since 
the time when the English vessels defeated the great 

1 Until a law was passed by Parliament in 1802 (§ 000) limiting the 
hours of the apprentices from these workhouses to twelve or fourteen a 
day, nothing had been done to help the little children, some of whom 
were as young as four or five years. Even this law was for the benefit 
only of workhouse apprentices. The children from homes were not 
protected at all by the law. 
R 



242 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



England's 
naval and 
maritime 
develop- 
ment before 
1763. 



Develop- 
ment of 
cotton 
industry- 
measured 
by cotton 
imported. 



Armada of Spain in 1588/ the English sea power had 
been growing. By the Treaty of Utrecht (§§ 59, 84) 
England gained commercial advantages which enabled 
her to expand her trade with other countries. The 
Seven Years' War, destroying, as it did, the French 
colonial empire in North America and in India (§§ 86- 
87), marks the beginning of English supremacy as the 
first world power on the sea. From that time her navy 
was supreme, as it gained many victories and seldom was 
defeated. In truth, Britannia ruled the wave. Her 
trade also expanded more rapidly than before. 

The development of England's foreign commerce after 
the Seven Years' War was due not only to her naval 
supremacy and to her numerous colonies, but also to the 
economic revolution. The transformation of agriculture 
enabled England to produce a better supply of food for 
her people than formerly. The new inventions gave 
England an abundance of cloth with which to supply the 
world, and they also enabled her to undersell other cloth- 
makers, who were still spinning and weaving by old, slow, 
expensive methods. 2 

The development of the cotton industry may be illus- 
trated by a few figures. In 1770 Great Britain imported 
annually only four million pounds of raw cotton. Fif- 
teen years later nearly five times as much was brought 
to the country. By 1840 the imports of raw cotton 
reached nearly a million bales a year. Imports of wool, 
which in 1810 were but a million pounds annually, in- 
creased 25-fold in the next sixty years. 

We must not imagine that England's development in 
these years was confined to the textile industry. We 
have already mentioned the changes in the coal and iron 



1 E. E. c, § 699. 

2 Until 1825 the government of Great Britain forbade the exportation 
of machines or plans of machines. 



ENGLAND AS A WORLD POWER 243 

industries. In 1740 England imported more than half of Comparison 

the 40,000 tons of iron which she used annually, but in °/ ^ r °^ c ~ 

1788 she produced 61,000 tons, and, before the Reform exports of 

Act of 1832 was passed, her annual production of iron iron - 
and steel was more than a million tons, some of which 
was exported. 

197. Military Advantages of the New Wealth. — Even Military 

in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when Ens;- J vantages 

' ° oi tne new 

land was rated as a third, or at best a second-class power, wealth, 
she was in a sense wealthier than her continental neigh- w ^ h 
bors because she did not waste her wealth and resources instead of 
in continuous and costly warfare. In the earlier wars of ??!? 1°™ 

-European 

the eighteenth century England was able to give large wars, 
subsidies to her continental allies. With the expansion 
of her industries naturally she produced far more wealth 
than formerly and was in a position to control the mar- 
kets of the world, and to win a great war (that with 
Napoleon) because of her revenues. Money has wisely 
been called the chief of the sinews of war, since more 
wars have been lost through the lack of revenue than 
through lack of men. 

During the great Napoleonic wars, the English spent a Victories 
sum in excess of four billions of dollars, a sum that seems due to the 

vast exp en- 
small in comparison with the expenditures of the Great ditures in 

War (§ 000), but which was probably one fourth of the ^ h conflict 

total wealth of the country at that time. It would have Napoleon. 

been impossible for the English government to raise and 

expend these immense sums had her wealth not been 

growing by leaps and bounds. Any other nation of that 

day would have been bankrupted. 

198. Commercial and Maritime Expansion. — As a Needs of 
very small part of the cloth and other goods made by " e ^ mar " 
machinery in England was used in that country, she especially 
sought new markets on the Continent and in America. before 1815 - 
It will be remembered that Napoleon's famous continen- 



244 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Commercial 
policy ,af ter 
1815. 



Importance 
of the 
economic 
revolution 
to Great 
Britain. 



tal system (§§ 151-153) was an attempt on his part to 
keep England out of the markets of Europe. He hoped 
in that way to hamper her trade greatly and thus compel 
her to make peace. Not only did Napoleon fail to keep 
the countries of Europe from purchasing British-made 
goods, but in several cases countries which had been 
neutral or favorable to Napoleon opposed him in order 
that they might import goods from England at a lower 
cost than they could secure them in any other way. 

After Waterloo many continental countries revived 
their systems of tariffs and thus excluded many English- 
made goods or limited the market for these goods. The 
United States tried by protective tariffs l to limit impor- 
tations of manufactured articles from Great Britain, 
without great success. England's desire to keep and 
develop trade with Spanish-American countries led her 
to protest against the plans of the Holy Alliance to re- 
conquer those colonies (§ 175). 

This brief survey gives us some idea of the economic 
expansion of England caused by the economic revolution . 
We can see that England's naval supremacy, her colonial 
expansion, and the growth of commerce which was due 
to that revolution made her the first power in the world. 
In fact, the more we study history, the more we realize 
that world power is built upon solid business development 
more than it is upon diplomacy, national prestige, mili- 
tarism, or naval supremacy. 

1 All students of American history remember that at the close of our 
War of 1812 England flooded the American market with her manu- 
factured articles. Ever since the Embargo (1807), English goods had 
been kept almost entirely out of the American market, and the surplus 
stocks of goods which had accumulated in Great Britain, coupled with the 
new continental tariffs just mentioned, made the United States England's 
best market. In spite of our own tariffs, enacted in 1816 and in later 
years, it must be admitted that we imported from England large quan- 
tities of manufactured goods in the half century between the War of 1812 
and the Civil War. 



ECONOMIC REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND 245 

General References 

Ogg, Economic Development of Modern Europe, 18-157. 

Hayes, Political and Social History of Modern Europe, I, 395- 
406, II, 67-99. 

Bland, Brown, and Tawney, English Economic History; 
Select Documents, 482-544. 

Cheyney, Industrial and Social History of England, 199-239. 

Gibbins, Industrial History of England, 132-181. 

Warner, Landmarks in English Industrial History, 209-227, 
262-300. 

Gibbins, The Nineteenth Century, — Economic and Industrial- 
Progress, 18-39. 

Innes, England's Industrial Development, 216-254. 

Slater, The Making of Modern England, xiii-xli, 21-59. 

Prothero, English Farming, Past and Present, 148-252, 275-315. 

Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce in 
Modern Times, 494-540, 609-745. 

Toynbee, The Industrial Revolution, 1-73. 

Topics 

Conditions before the Agrarian Revolution : Hayes, 
Political and Social History of Modern Europe, 1, 395-403; 
Slater, The Making of Modern England, xv-xxix ; Prothero, 
English Farming, Past and Present, 148-161; Toynbee, The 
Industrial Revolution, 7-50; Bland, Brown, and Tawney, English 
Economic History; Select Documents, 482-000; Ogg, Economic 
Development of Modern Europe, 18-64. 

The Great Inventors : Cheyney, Industrial and Social 
History of England, 203-212 ; Gibbins, The Nineteenth Century — 
Economic and Industrial Progress, 18-23 ; Scherer, Cotton as a 
World Power, 59-83. 

Enclosures : Cheyney, Industrial and Social History of 
England, 216-220; Bland, Brown, and Tawney, English Eco- 
nomic History; Select Documents, 525-544; Johnson, Disap- 
pearance of the Small Landowner, 83-156; Prothero, English 
Farming, Past and Present, 161-167, 214-216, 249-252, 290-305. 

Studies 

1. Home industry before 1750. Traill and Mann (eds.), 
Social England, V. 

2. The woolen industry in early eighteenth century. Bland, 



246 MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 

Brown, and Tawney, English Economic History, Select Documents, 
482-487, 492-495. 

3. The transition from home industry to the factory system. 
Hobson, The Evolution of Modern Capitalism, 54-65. 

4. The grain trade before 1750. Bland, Brown, and 
Tawney, English Economic History, Select Documents, 487-491. 

5. Some famous agriculturists. Tickner, Social and Indus- 
trial History of England, 499-509. 

6. The decay of the yeomanry. Toynbee, The Industrial 
Revolution, 34-44. 

7. The condition of the wage-earners. Toynbee, The In- 
dustrial Revolution, 45-59. 

8. Results of the agrarian revolution. Ticknor, Social and 
Industrial History of England, 541-548. 

9. Some results of inclosure. Ogg, Social Progress in Con- 
temporary Europe, 74-82. 

10. The factory system and its results. Cheyney, Indus- 
trial and Social History of England, 212-213, 235-239. 

11. Coal mining. Gibbins, The Nineteenth Century — Eco- 
nomic and Industrial Progress, 24-27. 

12. Some results of the Industrial Revolution. Ticknor, 
Social and Industrial History of England, 530-540. 

13. Development of cotton, wool, and iron industries (1750- 
1850). Hobson, The Evolution of Modern Capitalism, 76-89. 

Questions 

1. Describe the open field system in use in medieval and 
early modern times. What was the nature of household industry 
in the early eighteenth century ? Name four classes that earned 
a living from the soil and describe the condition of each. 

2. To what extent had there been inclosures of land, home 
industry for general market, and shop or factory industry 
before 1750? 

3. What do you mean by the agrarian revolution? Why 
was one inevitable in the eighteenth century? Explain re- 
sults of new crops, improved methods, and inclosures of lands. 

4. Describe the process of spinning and weaving before 
1730. Name in order the inventions developed in the cotton 
industry before 1800, and show the nature of the changes brought 
about by each. 

5. Explain in a general way why Watt's steam engine was 



ECONOMIC REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND 247 

better than any earlier machine. What was the importance 
of its nse in the iron industry? Why is it connected with the 
development of coal mining? In what ways was it used in 
transportation? Why were improvements in the irori industry 
connected with those in coal mining? 

6. What were the methods of transportation before 1700? 
What improvements were made in roads ; in canals and other 
waterways? In your opinion why were there successful steam- 
boats before a steam locomotive was made practicable ? 

7. Show the effect of the economic revolution in England 
upon the location of the shops, upon the development of a 
factory system, upon England's foreign trade, and upon farm 
life. 

8. Why was the economic revolution in England of the first 
importance in the development of Great Britain into a world 



CHAPTER X 



ECONOMIC REVOLUTION ON THE CONTINENT 



The Peasant and His Land 



Peasant 
semi-pro- 
prietorship 
in France. 



Status of 
persons 
and lands 
outside of 
France. 



199. The Peasant and his Land before 1789. — Before 
the French Revolution most of the peasants of France 
were practically free and " owned " their land ; subject to 
tithes due to the church, small payments due to the lord 
of the estate on which the lands were located, and heavy 
land taxes, collected by the government. The taxes alone 
sometimes amounted to half the value of the farm prod- 
ucts. The agricultural land of France itself was divided 
into separate holdings, more than a hundred million in 
number, and some of them were so small that they con- 
tained but a single apple or plum tree. In eastern France 
most of the peasants were still serfs, and the total number 
of serfs in the kingdom was about a million and a half. 
They did not own lands but cultivated the fields of their 
lords. 

In almost all other continental countries, serfdom was 
still common in 1789. In Austria Joseph II had abolished 
serfdom in his personal dominions (§ 109), and had decreed 
that no peasant should pay to his lord for the use of the 
peasant's lands more than seventeen per cent of any one 
year's crop. In Prussia Frederick the Great had granted 
relief to the peasants on the king's lands (§ 69), but he 
was not able to abolish serfdom on the lands of the nobles. 
Frederick did decree that there should be three grades of 
lands, one held by the nobles, another by the townsmen, 

248 1 



THE PEASANT AND HIS LAND 



249 



and a third by the peasants. He decreed also that no 
class should take up, by purchase or otherwise, any of the 
lands belonging to another class. In this way he pre- 




The Gleaners 

vented the nobles from obtaining the land monopoly 
that the English aristocracy was obtaining. 

200. Changes in France after 1789. — On the famous Abolition o 
night of. the 4th of August, 1789, the National Assembly f a e n u d dal dues 
of France abolished serfdom in that country and decreed services, 
that any villein could acquire real ownership through 
purchase of the lands which he and his ancestors had held. 
In 1789 and 1790 the assembly freed the peasants from 
practically all feudal dues, such as baking bread in the 
lord's oven and paying tolls on the roads, and no compen- 
sation was granted to the lords for these lost privileges. 

When it came, however, to obtaining ownership, the 
peasants were obliged to expend a large sum, usually in 
installments over a period of twent} T or twenty-five years, 



250 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Payments 
made by the 
peasant for 
the pur- 
chase of 
their lands. 



Sales of 
church 
lands at 
low prices. 



Condition 
of the land 
and of the 
peasants 
before Na- 
poleon's 
time. 



Reform 
state sub- 
ject to 
Napoleon. 



in order to get a clear title to the land which they and their 
ancestors had cultivated. They were very much dis- 
gusted when they found that they had to pay for their 
lands ; their disappointment took the form of a new 
" war on the chateaux." 

The church lands which had been taken over by the 
government were sold to peasant proprietors as well as 
to burghers and nobles. These new purchasers paid in 
cash only a small part of the value of this property, be- 
cause they feared that later the lands would be given 
back to the church. They were allowed to keep the 
lands, however, without additional payments. The epoch 
of the French Revolution and Napoleon therefore made 
France a land of peasant proprietors, several million in 
number. 

201. Changes in Germany. — In regard to the lands 
of Germany * the first fact to be noted is that in the south- 
west the holdings under cultivation were small, but the 
farther east one went toward Russia, the larger he found 
the estates to be. Secondly, the condition of the peasants 
varied from a light form of serfdom in the southwest to a 
very severe form in the northeastern provinces. In fact, 
in the eastern provinces or states the serf was greatly 
oppressed, and the law permitted the noble on the 
death of the peasant to take one half of his personal 
property. As the serf owned only personal property, 
this meant that the lord might take half that the serf 
owned ; usually, of course, he would not be so harsh. 2 

In the states subject to Napoleon, French laws were 
introduced and reforms were made similar to those in 
France. The first and most necessary reform was the 

1 In Napoleon's time Germany might be divided roughly into three 
groups : (1) those states connected with Austria, which we need not 
consider at this time ; (2) those in the Confederation of the Rhine and 
some other areas, which were dependent upon Napoleon; and (3) Prussia. 

2 Cf. with twentieth century conditions, § 000. 



THE PEASANT AND HIS LAND 251 

abolition of serfdom. Very little, however, was done in 
these states to make the peasants owners of the lands 
which they cultivated. 

In Prussia the national spirit was aroused by Napo- Attempts to 
leon ; very soon the people demanded reforms. By 1810 p ru e S gia n e 
serfdom had been abolished. The next year arrangements peasants, 
were made that the peasants who had cultivated feudal 
lands for their lords could gain real ownership of them. 
The peasant was required to return to the lord one third, 
or in some cases one half, of the land which he cultivated, 
and the lord was 'expected to give the peasant a clear title 
to the balance. In this way the peasants were made 
proprietors of their lands on the larger estates, and there- 
after they were freed from all feudal payments or obliga- 
tions in services to the lords. Nevertheless, the peasants 
of eastern Germany were not well off. They were still 
grossly ignorant, poverty-stricken, oppressed, and politi- 
cally unimportant. Their condition was to be improved 
considerably, however, by the economic revolution that 
reached Germany about the middle of the nineteenth 
century. 

202. Landholding in France. — There was no agrarian Results of 
revolution in France similar to that in England (§ 183), small P eas " 

55 va n ant pro- 

but in France agriculture prospered after 1789 because prietorship. 

the peasants owned their own land and because they were 

freed from the excessive taxes and heavy feudal dues of 

the old regime. The amount of land under cultivation 

increased constantly until more than three fourths of the 

entire area of France was cultivated. In the middle of 

the nineteenth century at least one person out of every 

four in France owned a farm. As indicated above, most 

of these farms were small, for more than half of them 

were twelve and a half acres or less. 

We should compare this state of affairs with that in 
England. In France there are nearly ten million landed 



252 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Comparison 
of England 
and France. 



Slow intro- 
duction of 
new crops 
and 
methods. 



Increased 
production 
in crops 
new and old. 



-proprietors ; in England, on the contrary, practically all 
of the land is owned by thirty thousand men. In France 
there were nearly five million additional farmers and about 
five million farm laborers ; in England there were but six 
hundred thousand farmers and only one million farm 
laborers. We can see from this comparison why Eng- 
land has depended to a large extent upon other countries 
for her supply of food. We can see also why it was 
possible for France to grow food for her own people and 
in addition to export large quantities. 

203. French Agriculture. — In 1787 an English writer 
on the " new agriculture," Arthur Young, criticized very 
severely the old-fashioned and inefficient methods of the 
French farmers. It was not until rather late in the nine- 
teenth century that the French introduced the newer 
crops and the better methods which had secured for England 
an agrarian revolution. That French agriculturists, how- 
ever, did improve their farms is shown by the fact that 
from six to ten more bushels of cereals per acre were grown 
in France in the last half of the nineteenth century than 
at the end of the eighteenth. 

The form of agriculture which shows the greatest de- 
velopment was the raising of potatoes. This useful food 
was almost unknown in France in 1789, but by 1848 the 
production had reached a total of nearly eight bushels for 
every person in the country. The wine production also 
was very much greater than it had been before, the wine 
being grown particularly in the valleys of eastern France 
and in the southwestern part of the country. Agricul- 
tural machinery was not introduced until about 1840, but 
by 1862 the government reported that there were one 
thousand threshing machines in use. 

204. Agriculture in Germany. — The new methods 
used by England before 1800 in agriculture and in 
industry only gradually found their way into Germany. 



THE PEASANT AND HIS LAND 253 

Whereas it might be said that in France the agrarian and Coming of 
industrial revolutions dated from 1825, little progress no ^°r evo 
was made in Germany in either farming or manufacture lution to 
before 1850. This delay was all the more unfortu- ^^ 
nate because about three fourths of the German people 
depended entirely upon the soil for a living. New crops 
and new industries would have lightened the poverty ancf 
distress of a large part of the population. 

The soil of Germany is not so rich as that of France. 1 Deveiop- 
During the first half of the nineteenth century, although mei ? t °* 

° ^ agriculture 

few improvements were made in agriculture, a consider- the sugar 
able amount of waste land was brought under cultivation. beet - 
Among the new crops which were developed during this 
period was the sugar beet, which was used for the making 
of sugar. In the middle of the eighteenth century a Ger- 
man chemist discovered sugar in beets ; in 1801 another 
chemist found that it was possible to manufacture sugar 
from beets in such quantities as to make a paying indus- 
try. Little was done, however, with the growing of sugar 
beets, although throughout Central Europe, under the 
continental system of Napoleon (§ 151), sugar was derived 
largely from beets, because the importation of sugar from 
the West Indies was shut off. By 1860 the amount of 
beet sugar produced in Germany was more than one 
hundred thousand tons, about as much as the people of 
Indiana consumed in a single year before the war came 
to America. 

Industry and Commerce 

205. French Manufactures. — The industrial revolu- Belated 
tion was not begun in France until the second quarter of mtroduc - 

. tion of 

the nineteenth century; the French have never been economic 
noted for their inventiveness, and the importation of changes m 
English machines was prohibited by British laws until 

1 E. E. C, § 460. 



254 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Concentra- 
tion of the 
French on 
articles 
requiring 
skill. 



Develop- 
ment of 
French 
textile 
manufac- 
ture. 



1825. Even after that time there was a French tariff on 
steel and machinery about equal to the original cost of 
the articles. 

Since the English were manufacturing textiles by the 
use of machines driven by steam engines, they were able 
to sell goods cheap in an extensive market. Very wisely 
the French did not attempt to compete with this trade ; 
instead they devoted their well-known skill and taste to 
the production by hand of fine articles such as lace, beau- 
tiful pottery, and tapestries. In this way they gave em- 
ployment to a large number of workers in small factories 
or shops. 

Even before the great French Revolution the French 
had started a cotton factory, but little progress was made 

in the cotton or other 
textile industries until 
about 1825. To be 
sure, about 1800 Jac- 
quard (Jac-kar') in- 
vented a loom for the 
manufacture of fine 
pattern silks and three 
quarters of a century 
later there were more 
than 20,000 of them 
in use in Lyons, the 
center of the silk in- 
dustry. In northeast- 
ern France consider- 
able attention was 



£§imm 




Making Pattern-card for Jacquard 
Loom 



given, as in previous 
centuries, to the manu- 
facture of fine woolens or linens, including laces and 
similar articles. 

Power machines were introduced rather slowly in 



INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE 255 

France, for even as late as 1830 there were only 625 Belated de- 
stationary steam engines in the whole country. This of^tea^T* 
delay was due in part to the extensive hand industries power and 
which we have just considered. It was due also to the coa mimng - 
lack of large supplies of coal and to failure to mine coal 
in quantities. As late as the middle of the nineteenth 
century there was mined in all France less than one per 
cent of the amount now produced annually in the United 
States. 

206. Transportation. Commerce to 1815. — Railways French 
developed more slowly in France than in England and *; ailwa y s > 

^ J ° fine water- 

the United States and even later than in Germany, ways, 
That thev were not constructed sooner was due to France's canals ' and 

roads. 

fine system of navigable rivers, her numerous artificial 
canals, and her extensive highways. Although there were 
only 12,000 miles of railroad at the time of the Franco- 
Prussian War, there were at the same time nearly 4,000 
miles of navigable rivers, and the mileage of artificial 
canals was three fourths that of the rivers. Whereas, in 
1789, the roads of France, the best in Europe of that day, 
included a total length of little more than 27,000 miles, 
or only about double the length of the Roman roads in 
France in the time of the early Roman Empire, 1 at the 
establishment of the Third French Republic in 1870, 
there was nearly ten times that mileage in roads and 
highways. 

We shall recall that in the eighteenth century the Growth of 
French were intense and rather successful commercial Frenc 

commerce 

rivals of the English (§ 83) ; for French commerce in the to 1792. 
eighteenth century increased more rapidly than that of ? e r cl n ne the 
the British Isles, although somewhat smaller in volume Napoleonic 
at the beginning and end of the century. The French wars " 
Revolution, followed as it was by general European wars 
lasting for more than a score of years, interfered greatly 
1 E. E. C, § 383. 



256 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



France 
under the 
Restoration 
(1815- 
1830). 



Contrast 
between the 
Orleanist 
and Bona- 
partist rule. 



with the foreign commerce of France. In the year that 
Napoleon was made first consul (§ 145) the foreign trade 
of the country was only one third what it had been in 
the last year before the war with Great Britain ; nor had 
it grown at all by the time Napoleon was finally over- 
thrown by his enemies. 

207. Expansion of French Commerce. — When the 
Bourbon kings were restored to the French throne in 
1814, 1 they did little for the economic development of 
France, because in spite of their protective tariffs they did 
not help industry, 2 and did not give proper encouragement 
to commerce. 

The July monarchy (1830-1848, § 217) was supposed 
to be distinctively a business or bourgeoisie government. 
It did attempt to aid the commercial classes, but its poli- 
cies were neither broad nor far-sighted. To be sure the 
industrial revolution occurred during this period and 
gave great impetus to French manufactures. Commerce 
also developed to some extent. Yet under the Second 
Empire, that of Napoleon III (1852-1870), which did not 
pose as a business government, far more progress was 
made both in industry and commerce than at any pre- 
vious time. During those years it looked as though 



1 The Bourbons certainly had not learned means by which commerce 
might be promoted. Naturally, when the foreign wars were over, French 
merchants should have regained almost at once most of the trade that they 
had lost in the previous decades. As a matter of fact French commerce 
was less extensive at the time the Bourbons were again overthrown (the 
July Revolution, 1830, § 216) than it was before the general European 
wars. 

2 The wheat growers of the country possibly owed the Bourbons a 
debt because very heavy duties were placed upon imports of grain, following 
the example of the English tariff (§ 000). The English corn laws 
worked a great hardship, because England needed large importations 
of wheat, and were therefore repealed in 1846 ; on the other hand, in 
France, a distinctively agricultural country which raised practically 
its whole supply of food, the similar French laws might be considered 
a benefit. 



INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE 



257 



France might again become the rival of Great Britain in 
the foreign markets of the world. This, of course, she 
did not do. 

208. Commercial Condition of Germany before 1840. 
— As we noted in Chapter VIII, Germany at the begin- 
ning of the nineteenth century was a loosely organized 
feudal state made up of several hundred principalities 
and more than one thousand other self-governing areas. 
Each of these had its own tariffs and collected customs or 
tolls at its boundaries. Since some were made up of 
scattered districts, entirely separated from one another 
by intervening states, they had many external tariffs be- 
sides numerous internal toll systems, which had survived 
from medieval times. In Prussia, for'example, there were 
sixty different tariffs. 

When Napoleon simplified the German system, and the 
German Confederation was organized in 1815 with thirty- 
eight component states or cities (later thirty-nine), the 
possibilities of commerce within Germany and with for- 
eign countries was improved remarkably. Even yet, 
however, the conditions were worse than in the United 
States before the adoption of our present Constitution in 
1787. Our situation was somewhat similar, for the states 
were continually having tariff wars and commercial 
troubles. 1 Prussia's territories were more scattered than 
those of any other German state. In 1818 she not only 
adopted a uniform and rather liberal tariff for all her 
possessions, but she also began her epoch-making policy 
of uniting all northern Germany into a single commercial 
union (Zoll'uer-ein), with a single tariff system. 

The chief advantage of the Zollverein was not economic 
but political, and we shall study it chiefly in connection 
with the achieving of German unity (§ 241). The customs 
union, however, made it possible to carry goods from one 

1 Ashley, American History, § 184. 

s 



Numerous 
tariff sys- 
tems in Ger- 
many in 
1800. 



Commercial 
unity grow- 
ing out of 
Napoleon's 
changes and 
the Prussian 
Zollverein. 



Removal of 
restrictions 
on internal 
commerce 
before 1840. 



258 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Agrarian 
and indus- 
trial condi- 
tions before 
1840. 



The indus- 
trial revolu- 
tion at its 
best comes 
to 
Germany. 



end of north Germany to the other without paying any 
tariffs. It was also possible by 1840 to transport articles 
down the great rivers of Germany without paying the 
numerous tolls which had been collected from boatmen 
before 1815. 1 

209. Development of German Industry and of Com- 
merce. — Before 1840 Germany was in much the condi- 
tion in which England was before the Industrial Revolu- 
tion (§§ 178-182). Her people were tenant farmers fre- 
quently cultivating lands in common, using antiquated 
methods, and without knowledge of new crops or processes. 
Household industry was common as it had been in Eng- 
land in the early eighteenth century and has been in 
eastern Europe until recent years. The gilds were more 
prosperous in Germany at this time than they had been 
in England since the reign of Elizabeth or in France in 
1789. 

Although the Germans were rather conservative about 
changing from old methods to new, about the middle of 
the nineteenth century they were aroused to the need of 
radical improvements. It is true that when the industrial 
revolution came to Germany it was introduced almost 
bodily from Great Britain. The Germans did not copy 
the English methods and business organization of the late 
eighteenth century, but they went to England and studied 

1 As Germany was still a distinctly agricultural country and as the 
industrial revolution had made little headway before 1840, it is probable 
that the Zollverein did not increase greatly the foreign trade of the coun- 
try. In other words, eastern Germany continued, as it did almost to the 
opening of the Great War, to import grains and meats from its eastern 
or northern neighbors. Western Germany also brought in dairy products 
from its near neighbors and grains from more distant countries instead 
of carrying these commodities from one part of the country to another. 
This peculiar condition arose from the fact that most of the German 
rivers flow to the northwest and before 1840 roads were few and poor, and 
railroads were practically unknown, so that frequently it was easier for 
Germans to do business with people outside Germany than with their 
own countrymen (compare §§ 000-000). 



INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE 259 

the most progressive factories, bought the most modern 
machinery, and themselves made use of the most up-to- 
date methods. Of course this was not true of all Ger- 
many, but wherever the factory system gained a real 
foothold, we find it developed at its best. 

Because of German interest in chemistry, more prog- German : 
ress was made in industries which involved dyes, pattern- ^es^ 
making, or chemical processes than in most other lines middle of 
of manufacture. In the Rhine valley, in Saxony, and to ^m^ 
some extent in southern Germany, factories were intro- 
duced and technical schools were started. As the Ger- 
mans began to make articles for themselves, they naturally 
ceased to import manufactured commodities, and they 
began to bring in more raw materials, which they them- 
selves turned into completed products. During this 
period, however, German commerce developed more 
slowlv than that of either Great Britain or France. 



Social Progress on the Continent 

210. Individual Freedom and Enterprise. — For the Exemption 
ordinary worker the years between the opening of the °L the , 1 f ndl " 
French Revolution in 1789 and the Revolutions of 1848 old obiiga- 
were a time of steady progress. In 1789 serfdom was tlons " 
the rule ; in 1850 there was practically no serfdom in 
western or central Europe. By the middle of the nine- 
teenth century feudal dues had been lightened or abolished. 
No longer could the nobles ride at will over the peasants' 
fields, nor were the farmers' crops destroyed by doves and 
hares, sacred to the lords and their hunting parties. The 
peasant had his own time for his own work, and he often 
owned his lands, especially in France. Sometimes his .; 

holdings consisted of compact farms rather than separated 
strips. 

Before 1789 it had been difficult for any worker to 
choose his own life occupation, for serfdom was heredi- 



260 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Breaking 
down of 
gild re->; 
strictions. 



Increased 
production 
under new 
conditions. 



Why wages 
were highest 
in England 
and next 
highest in 
France. 



tary. If a man's father had been a day laborer, he was a 
day laborer. No artisan was allowed to open a shop as 
" master " unless he had served as apprentice and journey- 
man and later had been accepted as a master and ad- 
mitted to a gild. Gild members, moreover, could not 
branch out in related lines of industry, for the gild did not 
permit its members to introduce new methods or inven- 
tions, and it refused to aFow a master in any other gild 
to infringe on any of its rights (§ 12). By 1850 much had 
been done to give any worker who had skill or capital 
the right to better his condition in any way that he could. 
Although a youth still served an apprenticeship, neither 
law or custom kept him from opening a shop or manu- 
facturing any article after he had served his time. 

211. Wages of Laborers. — On the Continent the over- 
throw of the old regime gave the worker a higher stand- 
ard of living than he had enjoyed before. The lord no 
longer took the larger share of the fruits of his labors. 
The government no longer depended chiefly on h'm for 
taxes. Being relieved from these burdens and from 
feudal dues, he was able to enjoy most of what he pro- 
duced. The economic revolution of the nineteenth century 
raised his standard still higher. The farmer raised more 
bushels of grain and potatoes to the acre. The artisan 
on his machines turned out a larger number of yards of 
cloth or a greater quantity of iron products. Each was 
beginning to get more for his time and his labors. 

Since most men worked for others, we are interested 
in the question of wages in this period. Wages were 
higher in England than they were on the Continent ; they 
were higher in France than they were in surrounding 
countries. That condition existed because England had 
made more progress industrially than France ; and be- 
cause France had developed more than her neighbors. 
In general it might be said that wages were at least sixty 



SOCIAL PROGRESS ON CONTINENT 261 

per cent higher in 1850 than they had been sixty years 
earlier. For example, an English laborer earned twenty- 
five cents a day in 1790 ; in 1850 a similar laborer was 
paid forty cents. In 1825 a French weaver earned only 
three dollars a week ; in 1880 his weekly wage was six 
dollars. In short, we find that wages have been rising 
steadily on the continent of Europe during the last cen- 
tury and a quarter. 

212. Standards of Living. — It is not the wages in Comparison 
dollars and cents that counts ; rather it is the amount of standards^ 
comforts which that money will buy that is important. 
These wages just mentioned seem wretchedly small, and 
they were inadequate, yet we must consider that most 
commodities were sold much cheaper in Europe in 1914 
than they were in America. In 1800 and in 1850 they 
were still cheaper. Our object at this time, however, is not 
to compare the standards of living in America to-day 
with those on the continent of Europe a century ago, 
but to compare the European standards in 1789 and in 
1850. 

Most working people spend from two thirds to three Poor hous- 
fourths of their income for food and shelter. We can i ng co £ +7 

tions in the 
therefore learn something about their standards of living early nine- 

if we know how they lived and what they ate. Since 
many workers went from the country to the manufac- 
turing towns, we must not expect them to be better 
housed than they were before. In the country, houses 
were undoubtedly better than they had been, but the 
French and German cities of the early nineteenth cen- 
tury were crowded and unhealthy. The streets were 
narrow, the tenements were unattractive, and the rooms 
were dark and gloomy. As the governments had taxes 
on doors and windows, and sometimes on chimneys, land- 
lords had as few of these " luxuries " as possible. Condi- 
tions in the towns may not have been worse than they 



teenth 
century. 



262 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Improve- 
ment in 
food stand- 
ards and 
consump- 
tion. 



Influence on 
the Conti- 
nent of 
British 
legislation. 



French laws 
for mine 
and factory- 
workers. 



were in the eighteenth century, but more people suffered 
the discomforts of town life. 

Aside from housing conditions, the town worker was 
probably better off than his eighteenth century predecessor. 
He had more money to spend, and prices were little if 
any higher than they had been. In France, for example, 
the people ate less rye bread than formerly ; for much 
more wheat was produced in 1850 than in 1789, although 
some wheat was exported. The greatest change was in 
the consumption of meat. Whereas the per capita con- 
sumption of meat (in France) had been 39 pounds a year, 
it rose to 63 pounds. What is true of meat was true of 
other desirable or nutritious foods, and of clothing. 
In brief the standard of living had risen at least fifty per 
cent in the years between the two great revolutions of 
1789 and 1848. 

213. Legislation for Workers. — The condition of 
workers on the Continent both before and after the begin- 
nings of the factory system were somewhat similar to 
those in England (§§ 000, 000). Since factories were 
introduced and mining on an extensive scale was developed 
later in France and Germany than in England, legislation 
for the benefit of workers almost of necessity came later 
on the Continent than in the British Isles. The first 
laws passed for the protection of workers were those en- 
acted by the British parliament in 1788 (§ 000) for youth- 
ful chimney sweeps and the much better known law of 
1802 for the protection of child apprentices in factories 
(§ 000). 

Almost thirty years before any English law had been 
made on that subject (§ 000), children in France were 
prohibited (1813) from working in mines, although these 
early laws were not well enforced in either country. In- 
fluenced by the British laws for the protection of children 
and women workers in factories (§ 000), the French govern- 



SOCIAL PROGRESS ON CONTINENT 263 

ment later declared that no child under the age of eight 
years should be thus employed. 1 

That the years about 1840 witnessed a considerable Prussian 
interest in the subject of labor legislation is shown, not Jjf^ 1 ^- 
only by English laws of this period and the French law nineteenth 
just mentioned, but by a Prussian law of 1839. 2 Some century - 
years later the minimum age of Prussian child workers 
was raised to twelve years, which was the ordinary age 
limit prescribed by our American state laws only a few 
years ago. 

214. Discontent and Organization of Labor. — There European 
were associations of gild workmen even as early as the la ^ s a s amst 

° m J unions of 

Renaissance. These associations continued in France workers, 
and particularly in Germany into the nineteenth century, 
but they were ordinarily groups of the old type of work- 
men ; they had nothing to do with the new industry. 
Everywhere in Europe workmen were forbidden to meet 
or to organize in order to improve their condition. Under 
the reactionary governments of continental Europe after 
1815 (§§ 172-174), associations or gatherings of any kind 
which might disturb the public peace or order were dis- 
trusted and therefore were prohibited. Although labor 
unions were legalized in England almost unintentionally, 
about 1825 (§ 000), they did not exist in France until a 
somewhat later period nor in Germany until after the 

1 Those from eight to twelve were allowed to work not more than eight 
hours a' day and should attend school part of the time. Those from 
twelve to sixteen should not be employed more than twelve hours per 
day. There were local inspectors in each Franch district, but the inspec- 
tion was even more unsatisfactory than in England. 

2 This law declared that no children under nine years of age should work 
for wages, and that those under sixteen should be employed not more 
than ten hours a day, night work being prohibited. The Prussian law 
went much farther than either the English or the French laws in providing 
for school attendance, since it declared that all employed children should 
spend five hours a day in the school room, a provision which, of course, 
could not be carried out. 



264 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Unemploy- 
ment, other 
hardships, 
and dis- 
content. 



middle of the nineteenth century. They were, of course, 
prohibited under the older laws. 

On the Continent, even more than in England, the 
industrial revolution caused the displacement of labor. 
Since the change came later on the Continent than in the 
British Isles, and since the transition from the old methods 
to the new was more abrupt, the hardships suffered by 
continental workers, especially skilled workers of the old 
type, were very great. These workers were not only 
thrown out of employment by the introduction of ma- 
chines, which turned out goods much faster than they 
had been able to make them, but they were either too 
proud or too old to adapt themselves to work of the new 
type. In many communities the same thing happened 
as in England a few years earlier (§ 000), that is, work- 
ingmen broke up the new machines and to some extent 
interfered with persons who tried to operate them. In 
France, before the Revolutions of 1848 (§ 218), there 
were a very large number of unemployed men, especially 
in the cities. There was discontent among unemployed 
persons, and also among those who were made restless 
by the change from the old industrial order to the new. 



General References 

Ogg, Social Progress in Contemporary Europe, 100-124. 

Gibbins, The Nineteenth Century — Economic and Industrial 
Progress, 187-239. 

Ogg, Economic Development of Modern Europe, 187-235. 

Dawson, The Evolution of Modern Germany. 

Wergeland, History of the Working Classes in France. 

Levasseur, Histoire des classes ouvrieres (Avant 1789, II, 881— 
982; de 1789 a 1870, II, 795-906). 



Topics 

The French Peasant and His Land : Lowell, The Eve of 
the French Revolution, 186-191, 199-206 ; Ogg, Economic Develop- 



ECONOMIC REVOLUTION ON CONTINENT 265 

ment of Modern Europe, 187-192 ; Gibbins, The Nineteenth Cen 
tury — Economic and Industrial Progress, 187-193. 

French Commerce : Day, A History of Commerce, 409-413; 
Gibbins, The Nineteenth Century — Economic and Industrial Prog- 
ress, 204-211 ; Ogg, Economic Development of Modern Europe, 
280-288. 

Studies 

1. Gilds and workers in France before 1789. Wergeland, 
History of the Working Classes in France, 106-109, 123-136. 

2. Economic and social conditions in France before 1789. 
Lowell, Eve of the French Revolution, 359-376. 

3. French manufacturers before 1789. Yeats, Growth and 
Vicissitudes of Commerce, 231-236. 

4. The peasant in Prussia before 1800. Ogg, Economic De- 
velopment of Modern Europe, 200-205. 

5. The beet sugar industry in Germany before 1850. Gib- 
bins, The Nineteenth Century — Economic and Industrial Progress, 
223-226. 

6. Textile manufactures in Germany. Gibbins, The Nine- 
teenth Century — Economic and Industrial Progress, 231-234. 

7. Industrial changes in Germany in the nineteenth century. 
Dawson, Evolution of Modern Germany, 37—46. 

Questions 

1. Describe the conditions of landholding in France and 
in central Europe before 1789. Explain what changes occurred 
after that date in regard to the holding of land in France and 
in Prussia. Compare landholding in France and in England 
in the late nineteenth century. 

2. Compare agricultural methods and development in France 
and in Germany before 1800 with those used in either country 
in the nineteenth century. 

3. Account for the fact that the industrial revolution 
in France was nearly a half century later than in England. 
Why did the French devote their attention particularly to 
articles requiring skill and taste ? 

4. Account for the excellent roads and artificial water- 
ways to be found in France. If French commerce had expanded 
so rapidly in the eighteenth century, why did it not continue 
to develop as rapidly in the nineteenth? 



266 MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 

5. Show the effect upon German industry and commerce of 
German disunity and the undeveloped political conditions in 
that country. What was the character of the industrial revo- 
lution which was finally introduced into Germany ? 

6. To what extent was there individual freedom and enter- 
prise in central and eastern Europe before 1789? in 1850? 
How did the wages of laborers and their standard of living 
under the old regime compare with those of the mid-nineteenth 
century ? 

7. Describe the legislation for workers in France and 
Prussia before 1850. (Compare with similar laws in America 
at the beginning of the twentieth century ; with American 
labor legislation to-day.) Account for the fact that associa- 
tions of laborers were forbidden in England and on the Conti- 
nent until the second quarter of the nineteenth century. Show 
the connection between unemployment and discontent of labor- 
ers on the Continent with the Revolutions of 1848 which are 
discussed in the next chapter. 



CHAPTER XI 
POLITICAL REVOLUTIONS (1830-1849) 

France (1815-1848) 

215. France after the Restoration (1814 — 1830). — Extreme 
It has been said of the Bourbons who were restored to the j^ <£ mst 
throne of France in 1814 that they learned nothing and Charles X 
forgot nothing. 1 Louis XVIII was liberal at first, but ( 1824 - 1830 > 
changed gradually, especially after the murder of his 
nephew, the Duke of Berry, in 1820, that first of the 
three years of revolution, 2 1820, 1830, 1848. Then he 
fell under the influence of the extreme reactionaries, led 
by his brother, who became king in 1824 with the title of 
Charles X. Charles X's rule was at all times severe and 
reactionary. By 1829 it had become very objectionable and 
had aroused the opposition of most classes of the people. 3 

1 France was ruled after 1814 as follows : 

Louis XVIII (1814-1824) Second French Republic (1848-1852) 

Charles X (1824-1830) Napoleon III (1852-1870) 

Louis Philippe (1830-1848) Third French Republic (1870- ) > 

2 Of the years especially prominent for revolutions, of course the last 
(1848) was by far the most important. In 1820 revolutions occurred in 
Spain, in Portugal, and in Italy. In 1820 an insurrection was begun 
against the arbitrary rule of the restored Spanish King Ferdinand. This 
revolution spread to other provinces of the Spanish peninsula, and the 
king was forced to restore the constitution of 1812 and call a meeting of 
the national parliament. Two years later a French army, with the ap- 
proval of the Congress of Verona, suppressed the liberal government in 
Spain (§ 174). In Portugal also there was a revolution at this time. 

The people of Italy were misruled and discontented (§ 228). In 1820 
the Neapolitans also rose against the rule of their king, named Ferdinand 
(§ 174). 

3 In the French parliament the king was able to control only a small 
minority of the votes. Since Charles was not able to secure the enact- 

267 



268 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



The July 
Days. 



The July 
ordinances. 



When the elections of a new French parliament gave 
unfavorable results, Charles, on July 26, 1830, issued 
ordinances which reestablished censorship of the press, 
provided for a much higher qualification for voters, and 
called a new election for parliament, although the re- 
cently chosen members had never met. 

216. The July Revolution in France (1830). — Im- 
mediately the newspaper men whose rights were at- 
tacked led the opposition to Charles. The people of 




The Hotel de Ville, Paris 

Paris, already organized under military leaders, rushed 
upon the city hall (Hotel de Ville) and captured it. 
When the king's army finally entered Paris, the Parisians 
threw up barricades in the narrow streets and kept them 
from regaining control of the city. With the Paris mob 
voicing the cry " no more Bourbons," Charles X was 
obliged to abdicate in favor of his little grandson, the 
Count of Cham-bord' (§ 000), and was forced to leave 
France. 

ment of laws which he desired, in 1830 he emulated the bad example of 
James II of England. He suspended laws and practically if not legally 
declared himself above the constitution. 



FRANCE (1815-1848) 



269 



The revolutionists were united only in their desire to Louis 
overthrow the late king. The Parisians, who had their ^ptedas 
headquarters at the Hotel de Ville, wanted a republic, the French 
The newspaper men and Orleanists demanded Louis king ' 
Phil-ippe', a cousin of the late king. The Republicans 
were not ready to carry out their plans at once ; hence 
Louis Philippe boldly marched, practically unattended, 




A Street Barricade 



to their headquarters, and he and his followers won the 
day. Later he and Lafayette appeared upon the balcony 
of the Hotel de Ville ; the mob wildly applauded as 
Lafayette embraced him and he waved the tricolor, the 
republican flag of France, publicly displayed for the first 
time in fifteen years. He ruled France until 1848. : 

1 The "citizen king" was a plain man who had called himself citizen 
at the time of the Revolution and had been a member of the revolutionary 
army. With his green umbrella he was seen almost daily in the Paris 



270 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Revolutions 
outside of 
France. 



Contrast 
between 
growth of 
liberalism 
in France 
and arbi- 
trariness of 
the gov- 
ernment. 



The year 1830 was a period of reform, radical change, 
and revolution to an even greater extent than the year 
1820. 1 Beside the July Revolution in France two others 
were of considerable interest in Europe. These were 
the revolutions in Belgium which made Belgium inde- 
pendent of Holland (§ 000), and the revolution in Poland 
which caused that kingdom to lose its independence 
(§ 000). Russia and Prussia wanted to intervene in 
order to force Belgium to be again a part of the Dutch 
Netherlands, but as France and England objected and as 
the Polish revolution interfered with Russian intervention, 
Belgium's independence was therefore recognized. 

217. France Before the Revolution of 1848. — The 
government of Louis Philippe, like that of the Bourbons 
which it replaced, was at first liberal ; as time passed it 
grew more despotic, though the people were becoming 
steadily more liberal. In the years immediately preceding 
1848 Louis Philippe's rule therefore grew more and more 
unpopular. The Republicans had always opposed the 
Orleanist monarchy, and most of the monarchists were 



streets without a guard, talking familiarly with workmen. In a demo- 
cratic manner he sent his sons to a public school. Among the higher 
classes of the French, however, he was sneeringly referred to as "the 
king of the barricades." Notwithstanding his democratic ways at home, 
he was exceedingly ambitious to be recognized by other European mon- 
archs as their equal. It was his misfortune to be snubbed by the rulers 
of central and eastern Europe ; it was also his misfortune to find that 
his ambitious plans to marry his sons to foreign princesses and to increase 
the international prestige of France always went awry. In Louis Phi- 
lippe's reign France prospered ; that is more than can be said for the poli- 
cies of the "July Monarchy" or for the plans of the "citizen king." 

1 In England and elsewhere in Europe we find the spirit of reform 
dominant in the year 1830. In England it was the time of the great 
agitation for the reform of Parliament which culminated in the Reform 
Act of 1832 (§ 000) and of social reforms a few years later (§§ 000-000). 
In America this period was marked by the beginning of active agitation 
against negro slavery and by numerous social and political reforms, which 
tended to bring equality to most white men. Ashley, American His- 
tory, §§ 292, 298. 



FRANCE (1815-1848) 271 

not satisfied with it. In time the king lost the support 
of the middle classes, whom he was supposed to favor 
especially. Most of all was his rule disapproved by the 
workingmen. As we noticed above (§ 205), France had 
introduced new machines in agriculture and particularly 
in industry. Consequently many of the old workers 
had been thrown out of employment. In the cities 
factories had been established which gave irregular em- 
ployment to many thousands but in 1848 the num- 
ber of unemployed workmen was very large. To the 
government these common workers looked in vain for 
help. Practically all of the classes opposed the rule of 
the " citizen king " and demanded reforms which Louis 
Philippe's ministers were unwilling to grant. At the 
beginning of the year 1848 conditions in France were 
critical. 

218. The Revolution of 1848 in France. — The reform Events of 
leaders met together in banquets, where they discussed S )b ™ ary 
necessary reforms in the government. One of the most 
important of these was planned for Washington's birth- 
day, February 22, 1848. When the government objected 
to the banquet and the street procession which was to 
precede it, the reformers agreed to *yield, but a typical 
Paris mob gathered in the Place de la Concorde, demand- 
ing reform. Soon afterwards the troops who were guard- 
ing Guizot's (Gui-zo x ) residence fired into a crowd and 
killed more than a score of people. Some of the corpses 
were carried about Paris in a cart, the populace crying 
" vengeance." In rage the people threw up barricades, 
and rioting against the government occurred in many of 
the Paris streets. On February 24, Louis Philippe fol- 
lowed the example set by Charles X, and abdicated in 
favor of his grandson, the Count of Paris (§ 000). On 

1 Louis Philippe's prime minister, Guizot, had been liberal, but before 
1848 had been growing constantly more autocratic. 



272 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



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REVOLUTIONS OF 1848 273 

the same day the Second French Republic was pro- 
claimed, he fled to England. 

Two important factions shared control of the new The 
republic, the liberals and the socialists. The liberals sociallsts 

and the 

established national workshops, advocated by the leading "national 
socialist, Louis Blanc, 1 but they organized them, not to workshops.' 
carry out Blanc's, ideas, but to show that Blanc's plan 
was doomed to failure. Of course there was little or 
nothing for the numerous applicants to do, but some were 
employed digging trenches which were of no special value 
to any one. They were paid at the rate of two francs a 
day, and were employed on the average two days a week. 
This employment, therefore, gave them a weekly wage 
equivalent to only about two dollars in our money 
to-day. 

219. End of the Socialist Republic. — In April an Elections 
election was held to make a constitution for the Second *° th f. con ~ 

stitutional 

French Republic. The bourgeoisie was disgusted with convention, 
a republic which had already interfered greatly with busi- 
ness, and the peasants, most of whom already owned 
land, disapproved state socialism. In Paris the Socialists 
elected but three of the twenty-four workmen who had 
been nominated for the constituent assembly. In the 
country districts they were even less successful. 

A few weeks later the "national workshops" were The "June 
closed, and the laborers were requested to return to their Da y s -" 
homes. In Paris the workmen and the mob protested, 
the national guard was called in, and General Ca-vai- 
gnacV troops fought their way through the barricaded 
streets until the insurrection was suppressed. Thousands 
were slaughtered ; other thousands were transported 

1 Blanc advocated a doctrine which seems less revolutionary in our 
day than it did seventy-five years ago, namely, the right to work. One 
of the first acts of the new government was a decree approving Blanc's 
ideas that the government should provide labor for all citizens. Blanc 
himself was not allowed to put this idea into practice. 
T 



274 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



The consti- 
tution and 
the new 
national 
assembly. 



Election of 
Louis 
Napoleon 
as French 
president. 



to the colonies. Some of the insurrectionists were sent 
to prison, still others were shot. These terrible " June 
days " were remembered with heartbreak not only by 
workers but by people in general. The French Republic 
was still in existence, but it was not a republic of the 
common people. 

220. Organization of the Second French Republic. — 
The assembly now proceeded to make a new constitution. 
It decided that suffrage should be universal. It proposed 
a single legislative chamber, and a president chosen by 
popular vote for a period of four years, who could not be 
re-elected. Even at that time the people and their leaders 
were much divided in their support of the new consti- 
tution, and, after a new election, late in 1848, the assembly 
was not controlled by the republicans at all, for two 
thirds of its members were monarchists. 

The contest for the presidency of the French Republic 
was really between General Cavaignac and Louis Napo- 
leon, nephew of the great Napoleon Bonaparte. Louis 
Napoleon had been an adventurer and an unsuccessful 
adventurer at that. Twice (1836, 1840) he had started 
insurrections in France which would place him on the 
throne of that country, but both were unimportant and 
badly managed. In spite of the fact that he had never 
been successful, the name Napoleon made a tremendous 
appeal to the French people, for it meant prestige and 
military glory. He was chosen from several districts to 
the assembly ; consequently, his election to the presi- 
dency was not unexpected. His popular vote was about 
four times that of his opponent. 



Revolutions of 1848 in Central Europe 

221. Central Europe in 1848. — We have already 
noted that central Europe in 1848 was ripe for revolution. 
There were two great movements of this time which made 



REVOLUTIONS OF 1848 275 

an}' possible revolution far more important in the history Embryo 
of the world than any previous insurrection which might 11 / inonsand 

^ . their 

have seemed similar in character. These two may be demand for 
summarized by the words nationality and democracy, national or- 
A nation is a well-organized, united, independent group 
of people, occupying a definite territory. In 1848 in cen- 
tral Europe there were no nations. There were, however, 
a number of racial groups, each of which believed that 
it was a nation and demanded national organization. 
B}^ far the largest and most important of these groups 
was that which we call the Germans, most of whom lived 
within the limits of the German Confederation of 1815 
(§ 165). The second largest race group which had no 
national organization was that of the Italians, which 
occupied the peninsula known in ancient history at the 
time of Julius Caesar as " Italia." 

There were, however, a large number of smaller race other races 
groups, for example, the Poles and the Bohemians or ™ A ^ s . trian 

° ^ L ' , m dominions. 

Czechs, who were Slavic races that lived within the Ger- 
man Confederation. Outside the limits of the German 
Confederation, but within the dominions of the Austrian 
Habsburgs, there was the great race of Mag-yars' ', which 
we call Hungarian, occupying the central part of the 
kingdom of Hungary. South or east of the Magyar 
group were a number of other Slavic races : Serbs, Croats, 
Tran-syl-va'ni-ans, and others. Each of these races, 
animated by the spirit of the times, wanted national 
independence. 

The greatest change of this year of revolutions was the Extent of 
liberal movement, the reaction in central Europe against the llberai 

° movement 

the conservative rule of Metternich. During the thirty before 1848. 
years that that able statesman had tried to control 
European affairs, the liberal or democratic movement 
had been growing. Particularly in Germany do we find 
considerable progress in the granting of freedom of speech, 



276 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Demand for 
constitu- 
tions and 
further 
reform 



The over- 
throw of 
Metternich. 



freedom of the press, and other civil rights by states, 
some of which had given their people constitutions. In 
Switzerland the liberals had won a victory over the con- 
servative government of that mountainous country. Not 
only was Pope Pius IX making reforms in Italy (§ 228), 
but other monarchs were granting concessions to their 
subjects in various parts of Europe. 

This movement, practically universal in its scope, 
was bringing to the people more liberties. As real con- 
stitutional progress had been halting, almost every one 
demanded much more sweeping reforms than had been 
made ; the leaders wanted radical changes, at least, con- 
stitutional government, if possible, republics. Naturally, 
monarchs opposed these innovations, and many of them 
believed that if they granted constitutions they were not 
bound by those documents. As Frederick William IV of 
Prussia declared, " No written sheet of paper shall ever 
thrust itself like a second providence between the Lord 
God in heaven and this land." 

222. The Revolution of 1848 in Austria and Bohemia. 
— The news that France had established a republic was 
brought to Germany rather quickly, for already a few 
short railway lines had been established and telegraph 
lines had been erected. A few daj^s later Vienna was 
aroused by a revolutionary speech of Kos'suth in the 
Hungarian parliament. 1 The Viennese students and 
populace, already enraged against the harsh rule of Metter- 
nich, rose en masse. Rioting occurred in the streets. 
An attack was made upon the palace of Metternich, which 
was burned by the mob. His life work done, this great 
statesman, the last leader of the old order, who for thirty 



1 When the news of events in Paris reached Buda-Pesth, the Hungarian 
diet or parliament, which had been considering radical reforms, was 
startled by Louis Kossuth, whose eloquence in the "baptismal speech of 
the revolution" stirred not only Hungary but all central Europe. 



REVOLUTIONS OF 1848 



277 



years had been the conservative guide of Europe, resigned 
and in disguise fled to that refuge of exiled continental 
statesmen, England. 

The overthrow of Metternich influenced the Czechs National 
of Bohemia to send to Vienna leaders who asked that the demands of 

the Czechs; 

Czech nation be separately organized. They urged that revolt and 
they should have diets annually in their different provinces of S ^strian 

rule. 




Rathhaus, Vienna 



and should be granted civil liberties, including freedom of 
the press and religion. They objected to German being 
the official language and wanted their education to be 
Czech rather than German. 

On June 12, 1848, the Czech militia in Prague killed ^J™ 
the wife of the Austrian commander, Win'disch-gratz. preme in 
The Austrians immediately withdrew, but a few davs Bohemia, 

ij.iiiii.'ii I • June, 1848, 

later bombarded the city, broke up the meetings of the and in 
pan-Slavic congress, i.e. the congress of all Slavic peoples Y ( ^ n ^' , 
of Austria, and reestablished the supremacy of Austria i84s' ' 



278 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



The famous 

"March 

Laws" 

of Hungary. 



Slav oppo- 
sition to 
nationaliz- 
ing 
Hungary. 



Quarrels 
over 
Francis 
Joseph. 
The Hun- 
garian 
Republic. 



in Bohemia. This was in point of time the first victory 
gained by the Austrian government. A few months 
later the people in Vienna, again aroused by the Hun- 
garians , revolted. They in turn were suppressed by the 
Austrian army under Windischgratz, who regained con- 
trol of Vienna and placed it under martial law. 

223. Revolt in Hungary. — During this month of March, 
1848, famous in the world's annals for its revolutions, 
the Hungarian diet passed its famous " March Laws," 
which practically created for Hungary a new constitution. 
They voted themselves a complete ministry, absolutely 
independent of the ministry which formerly had ruled 
Austria and Hungary. Annual meetings of the parlia- 
ment were to be held. Suffrage was made almost uni- 
versal, civil liberties were granted to all, and the peasant 
no longer was to pay more than his share of the taxes. 

Not only was an attempt made to give Hungary a con- 
stitutional government, but the Magyars sought to 
nationalize or unify all Hungary. The Slavs of southern 
Hungary, who wanted separate national governments for 
themselves, not a single Magyar government that domi- 
nated them, rose against the new Hungarian government. 
Naturally the rulers of Austria welcomed this rather 
unexpected help, and later an Austrian force was sent to 
cooperate with these Slavs against the Hungarians. 

224. Hungarian Independence (1849). — The Austrian 
emperor believed that the contest could be waged more 
successfully against Hungary if he were to abdicate. In his 
place was appointed his nephew, Francis Joseph II, whose 
long rule lasted until 1916. Francis Joseph was crowned 
emperor of Austria, but the Hungarians did not accept 
him as king. 1 He in turn felt that he was under no obli- 
gation to accept and recognize the Hungarian constitu- 
tion. Open war therefore resulted between the Austrian 

1 See § 000. 



REVOLUTIONS OF 1848 



279 



and the Hungarian forces. In spite of the numerical 
superiority of the Austrians, the Hungarians were at first 
successful. Elated by their apparent victory, the Hun- 
garian diet or parliament, under the leadership of Kossuth, 
proclaimed a Hungarian republicwith. Kossuth as president. 

Since the Austrians had failed to conquer the Hun- 
garians with the aid of the Slavs in Austro-Hungarian 
territory, they now appealed to Slavs outside of the 
country and asked the 
tsar of Russia to help 
them put down the 
revolution in Hungary 
(1849). The combined 
armies of Austria and 
Russia suppressed the 
Hungarian republic with- 
in a short time. Some 
of the Hungarian patri- 
ots were shot ; others 
were imprisoned or ex- 
iled ; many fled to for- 
eign countries. Kossuth 
escaped to Turkey and 
afterwards made a tour 
of the United States. 

225. Revolution in Prussia (1848). — -Vienna, Buda- 
Pesth, and Prague were not the only centers of revolt 
in March, 1848. In many south German states, espe- 
cially Baden, constitutions were granted and numerous 
reforms were begun or promised. In Berlin occurred a 
crisis due largely to the attitude of the king, Frederick 
William IV the vacillating. The year before, Frederick 
William had granted to his subjects a Prussian diet which 
he called together for consultation, not with the inten- 
tion that it should influence him greatly. The people 



Overthrow 
of the Hun- 
garian 
Republic. 




Kossuth 



Prussian 
diet (1847). 
Unrest in 
Berlin. 



280 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Disorder in 
Berlin 

(March, 
1848). 



The Prus- 
sian King 
assumes 
leadership 
in 
Germany. 



Calling of 
the pre- 
parliament. 



were much disappointed that this diet did not give them 
really constitutional government and bring them genuine 
reforms. 

In March, 1848, rioting occurred in the streets of 
Berlin. Although it was suppressed by the troops and 
many lives were lost, the victory was with the populace. 
Again, as in Paris, corpses were carried through the streets, 
in Berlin, to the royal palace. The king was forced to 
view these bodies, removing his hat at the demand of the 
crowd below. 

Later Frederick William placed himself at the head 
of a procession in which he waved a triumphant banner 
bearing the old colors of Germany, red, black, and yellow. 
That same evening the changeable monarch issued this 
proclamation : "I assume to-day the leadership in the 
hour of danger ; my people will not desert me, and Ger- 
many will gather around me with confidence. Prussia 
henceforth takes the lead in Germany" Unfortunately 
the king did not have the force of character to live up to 
these brave words. 

226. Failure to Form a German Empire (1848). — 
Even before the revolution broke out, there had been a 
movement for the reorganization of the German Confed- 
eration. Consequently one of the first developments in 
that momentous month of March, 1848, had been an 
effort not simply to reorganize the Confederation but to 
consolidate a new Germany. This movement took 
effect when a group of liberals called together a pre- 
parliament which in turn asked the people of Germany, 
excluding Austria, to elect by manhood suffrage one dele- 
gate for each fifty thousand people. This national 
assembly or parliament was called for the purpose of 
uniting Germany and framing a constitution for the new 
nation. 

The meetings of the national Parliament were held 



REVOLUTIONS OF 1848 281 

in Frankfort. Instead of attending strictly to business The 
and organizing a new government, while their arch-enemy, £ atl ° nal 
Austria, was in distress (§§ 222-223), the delegates wastes time 
wasted valuable time talking about a united fatherland, an( * &r \ ds 

. ' no leader. 

or extolling the virtues of constitutional government, 
or discussing minor questions. The constitution was 
finally completed and accepted by twenty-eight of the 
smaller states, but a strong leader was needed at once. 
Since an Austrian prince was out of the question, the 
liberals naturally turned to the king of Prussia. In spite 
of the statement which Frederick William had made, 
that he placed himself at the head of a new Germany, 
he refused to take " out of the gutter " an imperial 
crown which was offered to him by a parliament elected 
by the people ; he wished to have it granted by the Ger- 
man princes. Without a leader the parliament was 
lost, especially as the restored monarchs in Germany did 
not approve its work. When the Prussian delegates 
withdrew, the work of the parliament really came to an 
end, although for several months some members con- 
tinued to meet and discuss questions. 

227. The Humiliation of Olmtitz. — The failure of Prussia at- 
the Frankfort parliament to organize a new Germany tem ^ to 

. organize a 

with a constitutional government left both nationalists union of 
and liberals very much disappointed, since all hope of North Ger " 
union seemed at an end. The next year (1849), however. 
Prussia proposed a German union under her leadership. 
This union was rejected by the kingdoms but was ac- 
cepted by twenty-eight of the still smaller principalities 
of North Germany. The union was not to include Austria, 
of course, though it provided for closer connection with 
Austria than with any other foreign country. 

Naturally Austria objected to a Germany in which she 
had no direct authority, especially a Germany organized 
by her rival, Prussia. As she insisted upon the revival 



282 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Prussia is 
forced to 
abandon 
all her 
plans. 



Discontent 
and the 
Carbonari. 



Mazzini, 
Risorgi- 
mento, and 
Young 
Italy. 



of the German Confederation under her own leadership, 
the two powers came into conflict, and war seemed inevi- 
table. Since Prussia was not properly prepared for war, 
the Prussian envoy met Prince Schwar'zen-berg at Ol'miitz 
(1850). As a result of this conference, Prussia backed 
down absolutely. She agreed to dissolve the new union 
and to withdraw her troops from Hesse, where they were 
confronted by the Austrian army, and was forced to ac- 
cept the restoration of the German Confederation. In- 
deed, if England had not protested, Austria would have 
brought her entire non-German population into an 
enlarged German Confederation. Thus was the humilia- 
tion of Prussia made complete. 

Italy (1830-1849) 

228. Conditions in Italy before 1848. — In Italy 
there were discontent, secret organizations, intrigues, 
and revolution. Before 1848 there was little unity, for, 
as Metternich said, Italy was simply a geographical ex- 
pression. Because Austria's influence was supreme 
throughout the peninsula, the Italians were obliged to 
organize secret revolutionary societies. One of the 
earliest and the largest of these was a purely destructive 
organization, the Car-bo-na'ri, which it was estimated in 
1820 included one out of every twenty-five persons in the 
kingdom of Naples, and which sought the overthrow of 
established governments. The most active revolutions 
occurred in Naples and Sardinia in 1820 and in the Papal 
States in 1830. 

A scholarly, rather visionary, yet practical leader, 
named Joseph Mazzini (Mat-si 'ni) saw that the work of 
the reformers must not be simply destructive as was 
that of the Carbonari. There must be something to take 
the place of the governments which were overthrown. 
Not only did Mazzini therefore preach a united Italy 



ITALY (1830-1849) 



283 




Mazzini 



and work for the establishment of a republic for the 
whole peninsula, but to accomplish this object he organ- 
ized secret societies called Young Italy. Before 1848 
scholars and leaders were teaching throughout the penin- 
sula a doctrine which 
they called ris-or-gi- 
men'to, the " resurrec- 
tion " of Italy; and 
people everywhere 
took up the idea that 
once more there should 
be a united Italy, this 
time with a constitu- 
tional government. 

Italian reformers 
succeeded in interest- 
ing the new Pope, 
Pius IX, to such an 

extent that he introduced many reforms in the Papal 
States. When these reforms did not work out well, 
because the radicals abused their new opportunities, 
Pius became rather reactionary. Some other rulers, 
however, were also influenced to attempt reform. That- 
more did not do so was probably due to the fact that 
Austria's power loomed threatening on the horizon. In 
January, 1848, almost all Italy was seething with revolt, 
although a united Italy under a constitutional govern- 
ment seemed yet a long way off. Then a revolution 
broke out in France, and opportunity came not simply 
to the people of Italy but to those of all central Europe to 
secure for themselves the new ideals of the period, na- 
tionality and democracy. 

229. Revolution in Italy (1848). — In Sicily, before 
the famous Parisian banquet on Washington's birthday, 
there had been an insurrection which was quelled only 



Reform and 
revolution 
in Italy, 
1847-1848. 



284 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Granting of 
constitu- 
tions in 
Naples and 
Sardinia 
(Jan. and 
Feb. 1848). 



Demoraliza- 
tion and 
defeat 
of the pan- 
Italian 
army. 



Italian 
republics 
and their 
problems. 



Austria 

defeats 

Sardinia 

again 

(1849). 



when the king granted a constitution. In Naples some- 
what later the people also forced the king to make con- 
cessions to them. On February 8, Sardinia, which alone 
had kept itself partly free from Austrian influence, re- 
ceived from her king, Charles Albert, a constitution 
(Sta-tu'to) that was destined to become famous and helped 
the citizens of Milan rid themselves of Austrian troops. 

In spite of the fact that Naples sent troops under the 
leadership of a revolutionary general, and that soldiers 
came from other states to join Charles Albert of Sar- 
dinia, the Italian army was not united and could make 
no headway against the Austrian commander, Ra-detz'sky. 
As time passed, the rulers in the central and southern 
Italian states again regained control of their governments 
and countries. Inevitably their troops withdrew from 
the Italian army, leaving the north Italian forces to their 
fate. In July, 1848, Radetzsky made an attack at 
Custozza (Cus-tod/za) upon the poorly organized remnant 
of the pan-Italian army and completely defeated it. No 
peace was made until later. 

230. End of the Revolution in Italy. — The outlook 
in Italy, while not favorable to the revolutionists, was 
nevertheless rather dark for Austria. From Rome the 
Pope had fled, and a republic had been established. The 
same thing occurred in Florence, for after the Grand Duke 
of Tuscany had left, the government was republican. In 
Venice also a republic had replaced the rule of Austria. 1 

In 1849, however, the Austrians with the help of 
the Russians were regaining control everywhere in 
Austrian dominions across the Alps. Once more Radetz- 
sky, now reenforced, took the field against the Sardinian 

1 Most of these Italian states were in disorder and confusion, and dif- 
ferent factions of republican leaders quarrelled incessantly. Even if 
Austria had not regained the upper hand in Italy in 1849, probably no 
one of the republics, except Venice under Daniel Ma-nin', would have 
proved a success. 



of Austrian 
or con- 



ITALY (1830-1849) 285 

king, Charles Albert, and at No-va'ra (March 23, 1849) 
the Italian force was again completely defeated. It was 
now necessary to make peace. With the hope that 
better terms would be granted by Austria to Sardinia, 
Charles Albert abdicated in favor of his son, Victor Em- 
manuel II. In spite of Austrian opposition, the young 
king kept his constitution. 

Austrian influence was rather quickly established Restoration 
again throughout the rest of the peninsula, for the repub- °^ 
licans were overthrown easily in Florence and in Rome, troi. 
and the Venetians, who fought bravely, were of course 
unsuccessful. By the close of the year 1849 absolutism 
had been restored throughout the peninsula, and appar- 
ently the hope of a free, united Italy under constitutional 
government had been abandoned for good. 

Importance of European Revolutions 

231. The Old Era. — It is unnecessary to repeat Difficulties 
details of conditions which existed in Europe before the in aba j ld ° n - 

\ _ mg out-oi- 

Age of Revolutions. They were described in the intro- date social 
ductory chapter and have been explained under more 
than one topic. That many of these conditions were 
medieval, or at least out-of-date, is well known. That method 
those which were built upon privileges of kings, nobles, 
or clergy could not easily be changed without force or 
violence is equally certain, for no class ever gives up 
voluntarily a position of prestige or power. It was 
almost as difficult to change from old agricultural methods 
to new as it was to bring new rights to the people. To 
abandon spinning and weaving by hand, processes used 
not only by the fathers and grandfathers of those that 
witnessed the Industrial Revolution, but by scores of 
preceding generations, was no less than revolutionary. 1 

1 On the old regime in general see §§11 1-119. On economic conditions 
in England see §§ 178-182, on the Continent see §§ 199, 210. 



customs 

and 

economic 



288 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Nationality 
and democ- 
racy before 
1789. 



Revolution 
and changes 
in the 
half cen- 
tury before 
1848. 



From the political point of view the contrast between 
the old order and that which supplanted it was as striking 
as that in the social or economic field. The dominant 
principles of the revolutionary era had no place in the 
old regime. At the close of the eighteenth century these 
ideas were expressed in the form of sovereignty of the 
nation and by the expression " liberty, equality, frater- 
nity." In the middle of the nineteenth, they were much 
the same in substance, for they were embodied in the 
terms " nationality and democracy." Before 1789, we 
hear little of these principles. Louis XIV, not the 
French people, was the state. Even in France the mass 
of the people, represented in the third estate or not at 
all, counted for nothing, as Sieyes declared ; yet in other 
countries they were, if possible, even less important. 
They did not understand the idea of nationality, and 
they had no practical acquaintance with liberty. 

232. The Apparent Failure to Get Constitutional Gov- 
ernment. — In order to understand the revolutionary 
movement of 1848, we must study it in relation to the 
whole revolutionary epoch, of which it was a part. We 
must see that it represents an attempt of the people of 
central Europe to throw off burdens which had been gall- 
ing a half century earlier but were insufferable in the mid- 
nineteenth century. To the grandfathers of the revolu- 
tionists of 1848, serfdom had seemed inevitable, payments 
to lords a natural thing, and local systems of law or 
differing local governments unescapable, if not desir- 
able. In a few decades, serfdom had practically dis- 
appeared. To the nobles, still the great man of his 
estate or the village, reverence and courtesy are due, 
but special privileges are as much in disuse as the suits 
of armor worn by his medieval ancestors. Instead of 
thousands of tolls and numerous systems of local law, 
France, all restrictions removed, has free trade and fairly 



IMPORTANCE OF REVOLUTIONS 287 

uniform legislation. In Austria and in Italy, and espe- 
cially in Germany, there is hope of these changes. 

It was the purpose of the leaders of '48 to carry this Success of 
work much farther ; to unify their countries, free the y evo . lutlon - 

; J m m ists in secur- 

people, and give them a share in their own governments, ingabegin- 
Thev asked much, and they were not prepared to perform nmgof their 

; J r- r r- program. 

tasks of such magnitude. Under the oppressive rule of 
Metternich, they had not been able to communicate 
with each other, to express their needs and their discon- 
tent with their reactionary governments, or to organize 
for the great work to which they had dedicated them- 
selves. The revolutionists of central Europe were 
obliged to take advantage of an opportunity to revolt 
offered by the overthrow of an unpopular French dynasty ; 
but a successful revolution naturally must be caused by 
internal disorder, not external, or by pronounced weak- 
ness in their own governments. Scattered, with differ- 
ent ideals, unable to keep together, they were neverthe- 
less obliged to contend against governments that had 
dominated all continental Europe, against armies that 
still obeyed their autocratic rulers. Their success con- 
sisted chiefly, therefore, in this : they expressed their 
common protest against reactionary government and 
voiced their common demand for nationality and democ- 
racy. That, under the circumstances, they should gain 
the right to organize themselves as nations, and should 
have a real share in their governments, was not to be 
expected. A constructive program like theirs could not 
have been carried into effect in so short a period or under 
such great difficulties. To destroy takes little time ; to 
build up requires years or generations. 

233. Importance of the Age of Revolution. — In 
spite of its apparent failure the movement of 1848 was a 
success, and its real success is proved by the fact that 
it did bring to central Europe both nationality and de- 



288 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Develop- 
ment of 
nationality 
and democ- 
racy after 
1848. 



Epoch- 
making 
changes of 
the short 
period from 
1789 to 
1849. 



Discontent 
and revolu- 
tion in 
Europe 
(1820- 
1847). 



mocracy within a comparatively brief period. Before a 
quarter century had passed, Germany and Italy, politically 
disunited for centuries, had been built into substantial 
nations ; each had been brought under a single national 
government. At the time these peoples were united, 
they did not have a great share in their governments ; 
but they and all other European nations have gradually 
extended the elective franchise to their subjects (§ 000), 
and have become more democratic. 1 

It is not too much to say, therefore, that the six decades 
which we have called the Age of Revolution (1789-1849) 
witnessed the creation of a new Europe. Because the 
old Europe was practically a Europe that in the preced- 
ing centuries had been growing, but outwardly had 
changed little, these changes were abrupt and radical. 
Because they were resisted by the institutions that were 
modified and by the classes who lost rights, privileges, 
or power, they were of necessity revolutionary. That 
the revolutionists were successful not only in destroying 
the old but in creating the new is proof of the necessity 
and of the wisdom of the new principles. The Age of 
Revolution was not an age of completed tasks by any 
means ; it was an era of beginnings, for even to-day we 
have gone but a short way toward the perfection of either 
nationality or democracy. Liberty, equality, fraternity 
are still ideals rather than bases on which we have erected 
modern systems of law or built up social relations. 

234. Summary. — In spite of Metternich's reaction- 
ary policy (§ 173), there were many minor revolutions, 
especially in Spain and Italy, after 1815. In 1830 the 
Bourbon government in France was overthrown (the 
July Revolution) and replaced by the Orleanists (Louis 
Philippe). Belgium gained her independence from Hol- 

1 Germany has done this to a less extent than other countries, because 
Germany started with universal manhood suffrage, thanks to Bis'marck. 



IMPORTANCE OF REVOLUTIONS 289 

land, but elsewhere revolutions failed, especially in Poland, 
which lost her constitution. After 1830 there was dis- 
content in Italy, which found expression in the formation 
of the Carbonari and young Italy, the latter a national 
secret organization of Mazzini. In 1848 revolutions 
broke out in Italy before they occurred in France. In 
the latter country, all classes were dissatisfied with the 
mediocre but rather arbitrary rule of Louis Philippe and 
his minister, Guizot. 

In February, 1848, Louis Philippe's government, attempt- Revolutions 
ing to forbid reform banquets, was overthrown. The ™ France, 
Second French Republic was at first organized with Hungary,' 
national workshops, and Louis Napoleon was chosen ^%f% ta[y ' 
president. In Austria, Hungary, in many German states, 
and in Italy, revolutions broke out in March ; Metternich 
was overthrown, and everywhere the revolts were success- 
ful at first. In Hungary, Louis Kossuth led the move- 
ments for liberal laws. Italy threatened to unite. At 
first the Austrian government was helpless and promised 
constitutions and reforms. 

Then the army under Windischgratz regained Bohemia Suppression 
and took Vienna, while Radetzsky conquered Italy. ° f f he re Y°~ 
When Francis Joseph II came to the throne, late in 1848, 1848 by 
Hungary revolted again and declared herself independent. Austna - 
She was overpowered by the combined armies of her own 
Slavic peoples, the Austrians, and the Russians. Ap- 
parently the revolutions had failed, for the autocratic 
governments were again in authority. Austria was 
supreme in Germany and in Italy, except for the moral 
victory of Victor Emmanuel's refusal to give up his 
Sardinian constitution, and the German patriots at Frank- 
fort had failed to unite Germany under a constitutional 
government. 

The revolutions, however, had not failed. They rested 
on the two great ideas of the time, which most people 



290 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Apparent 
failure but 
real success 
of the revo- 
lutions of 
1848. 



held but had not been allowed to express, namely, nation- 
ality and democracy. Neither was realized at the time, 
but in later years unity came to Italy and Germany; 
and to-day practically all Europe believes in universal 
manhood suffrage. 

General References 

Robinson and Beard, Development of Modem Europe, II, 1-10, 
53-89. 

Robinson and Beard, Readings in Modern European History, 
II, 1-14, 16-22, 27-30, 73-114. 

Hazen, Modern European History, 270-324. 

Hayes, Political and Social Development of Modern Europe, 
II, 14-20, 50-57, 116-160. 

Phillips, Modern Europe (Periods, VIII), 168-292. 

Seignobos, Political History of Europe since 1814, 103-170, 
326-346, 374-448. 

Fyffe, History of Modern Europe, 603-633, 674-823. 

Andrews, Historical Development of Modern Europe, I, 134-448. 

Cambridge Modern History, XI, 22-233. 

Topics 

The July Revolution in France : Hazen, Modern European 
History, 273-279, 289-292 ; Seignobos, Political History of 
Europe since 1814, 125-234; Fyffe, History of Modern Europe, 
603-619. 

Hungary in 1848-1849 : Hazen, History of Modern Europe, 
298-305; Fyffe, History of Modern Europe, 709, 713, 748-752, 
762-770 ; Cambridge Modern History, XI, 172-173, 180-185, 202- 
215. 

Italy before 1848 : Andrews, Historical Development of 
Modern Europe, I, 188-192, 213-228 ; Seignobos, Political His- 
tory of Europe since 1814, 326-339; Cambridge Modern History, 
XI, 65-79; Probyn, Italy, 1815-1890, 1-70. 



Studies 

1. France under Louis-Philippe after 1840. Seignobos, Polit- 
ical History of Europe since 1814, 145-152. 

2. France under bourgeoisie rule. Guerard, French Civiliza- 
tion in the Nineteenth Century, 105-109. 



REVOLUTIONS 291 

3. The national workshops of 1848. Andrews, Historical 
Development of Modem Europe, I, 345-357. 

4. Liberalism and nationalism in Germany before 1848. 
Richard, History of German Civilization, 459-469. 

5. The Revolution of 1848 in Prussia. Henderson, Short 
History of Germany, II, 348-352. 

6. The Frankfort Parliament (1848-1849). Henderson, Short 
History of Germany, 352-354, 360-369. 

7. Kossuth. Latimer, Italy in the Nineteenth Century, 150- 
172. 

8. Mazzini. Mario, The Birth of Modern Italy, Chaps. I-III. 

9. Pius IX and Rome (1847-1848). Probyn, Italy, 1815- 
1890, 71-77. 

Questions 

1. What was the nature of reaction in France after 1815? 
Was it not inevitable that this reactionary rule should lead 
to revolution? How much better off were the French people 
under Louis Philippe after 1830 than under the Bourbon 
kings? 

2. In what respects did the rule of the July monarchy become 
reactionary before 1848? Describe the factions controlling the 
Second French Republic and explain why the national work- 
shops were a failure. Was the Second French Republic less of a 
bourgeoisie government than that of Louis Philippe? 

3. Explain each of the two great movements which were 
popular in central Europe in 1848. Name a few of the races 
which had not then, and have not yet, obtained for themselves 
a separate national government. 

4. Describe in chronological order the events on the con- 
tinent of Europe during February and March, 1848. 

5. Explain the connection of the following directly or in- 
directly with the Revolutions of 1848 : Metternich, Louis Blanc, 
Kossuth, Mazzini, Windischgratz, and Radetzsky. 

6. To what extent did the Revolutions of 1848 center in 
Hungary and why? How could the Magyars nationalize Hun- 
gary without arousing the opposition of the non-Magyar races 
of that country ? How has that problem been solved since 1848 ? 
Would it be possible or wise to grant to-day national inde- 
pendence and separate national governments to each racial 
group in the Austrian possessions or in southeastern Europe? 
(Compare § 000.) 



292 MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 

7. What was "Germany" before 1848? Could there have 
been a Germany with two leading and dominating states such 
as Prussia and Austria? What attempts were made at Frank- 
fort in 1848 and by Prussia in 1849 to form a new German State ? 
Describe the humiliation of Olmiitz and show its importance. 
(Compare §§ 242-243.) 

8. Show that Italy before 1848 was only a "geographical 
expression." What was the work of Mazzini? What was 
meant by risorgimento f Explain the part played in the Italian 
Revolution of 1848 by Piedmont (Sardinia) . 

9. Compare the ancient regime with that following the six 
decades of revolutions, 1789-1849. If the revolutions of 1848 
apparently failed to gain either national or constitutional govern- 
ments, why did it really lead to both? Explain the impor- 
tance of the Age of Revolution. 

10. Compare the conditions, the unrest, and the popular 
demands in central Europe before 1848 and in central and eastern 
Europe before 1914. In what countries did revolts break out 
during the Great War ? What was accomplished in each case ? 



PART III 

DEMOCRACY AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 

(1849-1918) 



293 



294 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 




L 



CHAPTER XII 
NATIONAL UNITY (1849-1871) 

The Unification of Italy 

235. Constitutional Government in Sardinia. — The Thesitua- 
unification of Italv followed rather closely the revolution- * l °? "? 

J ."•"•••'] Italy m 

ary movement of 1848. The darkest hour in the history 1849. 
of Italy and of Sardinia, however, came in the spring of 
1849, after the defeat of the Sardinian king, Charles 
Albert, at Novara (§ 230). Then Austria reestablished 
both her rule in northern Italy and her supremacy in the 
Italian kingdoms throughout the peninsula. Sardinia, 
however, was simply defeated, not conquered. 

The abdication of Charles Albert, who never knew his Attitude of 
own mind, in favor of his son Victor Em-man 'u-el , who Emmanuel 
not only knew his mind but stood absolutely and un- toward 
equivocally by his principles, was in itself a great gain ^^ r f a n 
for the Italian cause. Victor Emmanuel stood first of all 
unswervingly for a united Italy. Secondly, he stood just 
as steadfastly by the constitution (Statute-) which his 
father had given Sardinia. Austria offered to grant Sar- 
dinia much more favorable terms of peace if she would 
give up this constitution. It was especially offensive 
to Austria because it held up before the eyes of Italian 
liberals a standard of constitutional government which 
they in turn could demand of their own rulers, but Victor 
Emmanuel refused the bribe. 

236. Cavour and His Work. — Under the leadership Great idea 
first of d'A-ze'glio and afterward of Count Ca-mil'lo de of Cavour - 

295 



296 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Character 
and early 
experience 
of Cavour. 



Work of 
Cavour for 
Italian 
business. 



Ca-vour', Sardinia developed into a prosperous and 
successful small Italian state, and prepared to bring the 
cause of united Italy before Europe in the hope that at 
least part of Italy might really be united. 

Cavour was one of the remarkable men of this period. 
He presents that rare combination, a scientist and a 
practical man of affairs, an independent spirit and a 

matchless diplomatist. 
As a young man he 
had traveled exten- 
sively, studying par- 
ticularly the nature of 
the industrial, com- 
mercial, and political 
development of Eng- 
land and of France. 
On his return to Italy 
he devoted careful 
attention to his own 
estate, on which he in- 
troduced agricultural 
improvements-. So 
well managed was this 
farm that it gave its 
owner practical expe- 
rience in the importance of business success and pros- 
perity as the basis of national power. 

As minister of business interests he worked unceasingly 
during the first three years of his leadership in Sardinia 
to improve the agriculture and the industry of his coun- 
try. At the same time he made commercial treaties with 
Switzerland, France, England, and other countries, in order 
that foreign trade might be developed. Railways were 
built in different places and a tunnel was planned through 
the Alps to connect Sardinia (Piedmont) with France. 




Cavour 



UNIFICATION OF ITALY 297 

237. Cavour Makes Preparation for a United Italy. — Military 
It can be seen from these statements that Cavour was preparation 

of Sardinia 

building on sound foundations the future greatness of under 
Sardinia and of Italy. He believed in preparedness in Ca vour. 
the most complete sense, but his preparedness was not 
simply economic. He laid the foundations also for Italy's 
place among the Powers by gaining diplomatic friendships 
among English and French statesmen. Knowing also 
that in the last analysis Sardinia and the cause of united 
Italy would fail unless he could depend upon a well 
organized army, he gave his attention to military affairs. 
Sardinia under Victor Emmanuel and Cavour might be 
compared with Prussia under Frederick the Great, be- 
cause her army was large and efficient out of proportion 
to her size. Had it not been for the economic develop- 
ment of the country, however, little Sardinia would have 
been unable to carry successfully the heavy financial 
burdens imposed by so great a military program. 

It was through the army that Cavour was first able to Sardinia 
bring the Italian question to the attention of Europe. ^^^ 
Since the Italians lacked organization and had more than Crimean 
once failed to free themselves from Austrian rule, Cavour t^subse- 
realized that the cause of united Italy must be supported quent peace 
by the European Powers or it would fail. His opportu- counci ■ 
nit}' came when France and England joined Turkey in 
making war upon Russia in the Crimean War (§ 000). 
Sardinia sent nearly twenty thousand troops to aid the 
allies. When peace was to be made, Cavour asked to be 
admitted to the council in Paris (1856) which decided the 
terms. Not only was he allowed to be present, but with 
little difficulty he persuaded Napoleon, always anxious 
to play a large part in European politics, to introduce 
before the assembled diplomats the question of Italy. 
The English envoy immediately denounced Austrian 
interference in Italy as a menace to Europe and asserted 



298 MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 

that the government of the kingdom of Naples and many 

smaller Italian states under Austrian supervision was a 

disgrace to the nineteenth century. Cavour had gained 

a great victory. 

Agreement 238. The War against Austria. — Cavour realized that 

Cavmir 1 ^he ^ rs ^ s ^ e P m Italian independence must be war with 

and Na- Austria. Sardinia, though aided by other Italian states, 

po eon . k a( j f a ji ec [ m hgj. campaigns against Austria, even when 

Austria was in difficulties at home (§§ 229, 230). Hence, 

she needed an ally. Because of the temperament, policies, 

and ambitions of Napoleon III, Cavour was able finally 

to interest the French emperor in his project. At secret 

meetings at Plombieres (Plum-byar'), 1858, Napoleon 

and Cavour discussed the problem and agreed, as they 

took drives together, that if Austria made war on Sardinia, 

Napoleon should come to the aid of Cavour and should 

free Italy "from the Alps to the Adriatic.' ,l 

Preliminary It was not easy for Cavour to bring on a war with 

battles of Austria in which Austria should appear as the aggressor. 

war with He was aided, however, by the arbitrary rule of Austria 

in Italy, by the unrest and discontent throughout the 

peninsula, and by the continual criticism of Austria 

which was made by Sardinian leaders and newspapers. 

After months of effort he succeeded in " baiting " Austria 

successfully ; and Emperor Francis Joseph II demanded 

the disarmament of Sardinia within three days. Cavour 

and the Sardinians were overjoyed. On the arrival of 

Napoleon's forces, the combined French and Sardinian 

armies marched against the Austrian troops, whose 

organization and leadership were inefficient. At Ma- 

1 Napoleon had always been interested in Italy, especially in the 
Revolution of 1831 in which he had taken part. He wished to be a 
patron of a new state of northern Italy, but was not persuaded to take 
sides with Cavour until after a fanatic had tried to assassinate him early 
in 1858. Strangely enough this attempt, instead of turning him against 
the Italian cause, led him to give it aid. 



UNIFICATION OF ITALY 299 

genta, and later at Sol-fe-ri'no, two decisive defeats were 
sustained by the Austrians. The latter now withdrew to 
the famous Quadrilateral, which even the first Napoleon 
had found difficulty in wresting from his enemies. All 
Lombardy was now freed. 

The success of the Sardinians led the people of the Peace 
Italian duchies farther south to expel their hated rulers Napoleon 
and demand annexation to Sardinia. Napoleon was and 
alarmed. He realized fully the difficulties of driving the Austna - 
Austrians from the Quadrilateral ; he was sick of blood- 
shed ; he feared an attack by Prussia along the Rhine 
boundary ; and he was afraid to help the Sardinians 
create a state which, if it reached from the Alps to the 
papal states, was bound to give offense to his friend, the 
Pope. Without consulting his Sardinian allies, he, there- 
fore, made peace with Austria. Lombardy was given to 
Sardinia ; but Austria was to keep Venetia, and the 
princes of the north-central states were to be restored to 
their thrones. 

239. The Union of Italy. — Disappointed and dis- Voluntary 
gusted, Cavour resigned ; but Victor Emmanuel, foreseeing oJ^her ° n 
the inevitable expansion of the new Sardinia, finally agreed territories 
to peace. In this he showed wisdom, because the duchies ^ a i"° rt 
south of the Po valley refused to take back their rulers, 
and Austria, influenced by the opposition of England and 
other countries, decided not to intervene again. Early 
in 1860 these duchies, Tuscany, Parma, and Modena, 
and a part of the papal states, known as the Romagna, b} r 
popular vote asked for annexation to Sardinia and adopted 
the Sardinian constitution. In this way a new state was 
formed which included all of Italy north of the Tiber 
river, with the exception of the province of Venetia. 

Southern Italy was not content to remain under Aus- 
trian supervision while northern Italy freed itself from 
the hated rule of the foreigners. Consequently there was 



300 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Garibaldi 
and the 
conquest of 
the "Two 
Sicilies." 



UNIFICATION 
OF ITALY 

(1859 - 1870) 



great unrest and discontent in the Kingdom of the Two 
Sicilies. In the Island of Sicily the insurrection against 
the government was aided by a famous Italian patriot, 
Ga-ri-bardi. 1 This republican, withal an enthusiastic 

supporter of Victor 
Emmanuel, in 1860 
gathered together 
in northern Italy a 
band of more than 
a thousand " Red 
Shirts." Cavour 
warned him against 
leaving Genoa, but 
did not prevent 
him from sailing 
for Sicily. By 
desperate fighting 
Garibaldi gained 
control of the is- 
land, claiming it 
for Victor Em- 
manuel. He then 
crossed to the 
mainland, the English and French fleets carefully remain- 
ing in ignorance of his movements. Garibaldi was wel- 
comed to Naples by an enthusiastic populace. " The Nea- 
politan kingdom was not overthrown ; it collapsed." He 
then marched north against the States of the Church, but 
Victor Emmanuel, anxious not to offend the Pope more 




WILLIAMS ENG.CO., 



Unification of Italy 



1 Garibaldi had taken part unsuccessfully in former insurrections in 
Italy. He had then fought for liberty in one of the South American re- 
publics. Later he was active in the unsuccessful revolutions of 1848- 
1849. After those disasters he went to New York where he engaged in 
business, first as kettle-maker and later as sea merchant. Having 
amassed a moderate fortune, he bought for himself the Island of Caprera 
off the Italian coast. 



UNIFICATION OF ITALY 301 

than was necessary, himself occupied the eastern papal 
states and relieved Garibaldi of the command. By over- 
whelming majorities the people of Naples, Sicily, and all 
of the States of the Church, except the territory around 
Rome, voted for annexation to Sardinia. 

240. The Kingdom of Italy. — After two years of Annexation 
fighting and intrigue this successful national movement ? 18 ^6? lce 
was practically completed, and in 1861 a parliament 
representing all Italy except Venetia and Rome pro- 
claimed Victor Emmanuel king of Italy. Soon after, the 
country lost her great statesman, Cavour, who died at 
the early age of fifty-one, worn out by the extraordinary 
exertions of this crisis. For five years Victor Emmanuel 
and his ministers worked on the problem of making a 
united kingdom out of these different possessions. In 
1866 they were able to strike one last decisive blow 
against their old enemy, Austria. They aided the Prus- 
sians against Austria (§ 246) in the struggle to organize 
a new Germany. The quick collapse of Austria gave 
the Italians possession of the province of Venetia: the 
Habsburgs lost their last territories in the peninsula, and 
ceased to have any real influence in Italy. 

In 1871 the Franco-Prussian War forced France to Occupation 
withdraw from the city of Rome the troops which Napo- of ?? me bl 
leon had kept there for the protection of the Pope for with the 
several years. Alone, the papal troops were of course Vatlcan - 
unable to defend Roman soil against the Italians, who soon 
occupied Rome. The capital of modern Italy was then 
transferred to the capital of the ancient world. The 
Pope protested against this seizure of his territories, 
treated the king of Italy as a trespasser, and refused to 
leave his palace, the Vatican. The enmity between the 
Pope and the Italian king, begun even before the time of 
Cavour, has continued practically to the present day 
(§ 000). The Popes have refused to send ambassadors 



302 MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



• 




The Capitol, Rome, Italy 

to the Italian Court or to treat in any way with the 
usurper of their rights ; ever since they have remained 
" prisoners of the Vatican." 



Beginnings 
of com- 
mercial 
unity under 
the leader- 
ship of 
Prussia. 



The Unification of Germany 

241. Commercial Union under Prussia. — It will be 
remembered that the political disunity of Germany before 
1800 was disgraceful. Even after Napoleon's drastic 
reorganization of Germany (§§ 162-163), the country 
was not united even against his oppression. After 1815 
the German Confederation of 39 states was little more 
united than the old Holy Roman Empire had been, al- 
though the way had been prepared for unity by the de- 
struction of numerous small states. Real unity was 
not political, nor was it developed under the leadership of 
Austria ; it grew out of economic needs and was worked 



UNIFICATION OF GERMANY 



303 



out by Prussia. On account of the numerous tariffs 
within Prussia, that state in 1818 made a uniform tariff 
for all her scattered possessions. At first Prussia forced 
some of the petty states whose territories lay between her 
own scattered possessions to unite with her in a Customs 
Union, even against their own will. She gave to each 
their share of the revenues collected at the outside 
boundaries of the whole Union. Formation 

After Prussia had brought in most of the lands which of the 
had formerly separated her own territories, she abandoned f 1 °i!^ rem ' 



(1834). 




The Zollverein in 183U. \ ~~l 
Added 1834-1867 



WILLIAMS ENS.CO.jN.Y. 



a policy of force. Thereafter she tried to persuade other 
states to enter her Customs Union. So pronounced were 
the advantages of commercial union, and so opposed to 
Prussian leadership and domination were other states, 
that two other commercial unions were formed, one in 



304 MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 

south Germany and one in central Germany, including 
important seaports, such as Hamburg. Between 1828 
and 1834 most of the states in these other Unions 
abandoned their own plans and joined with Prussia in 
the formation of the single commercial Union, which after 
1834 was known as the German Zollverein. This included 
about two thirds of the territory of the present German 
empire and a population equal to that of the United 
States fifteen years later. 1 Other states afterwards 
joined the Zollverein, as shown in the map on the pre- 
ceding page, but Austria was refused admittance. 
Advantages There was a single tariff for the whole Union for com- 
Zollverein m erce with other countries, and within the territory there 
were no tolls or tariffs. A conference of delegates decided 
policies and made changes in tariff schedules. The states 
became accustomed to giving up their own diverse wishes 
and interests for common advantages. In other words, 
they learned to unite and cooperate. 
Commercial 242. Austria Loses Leadership in Germany. — Austria 
and°p S oUti- was expressly excluded from the Zollverein, for Prussia 
cal failures was determined to oust the great southern state from her 
beforeTSs traditional leadership in Germany, and was equally deter- 
mined that commercially, if not politically, there should 
be a united Germany which Austria did not dominate. 
In the political field Prussia suffered many defeats, due 
largely to the vacillating policy of her king, Frederic 
William IV, in the critical years from 1848 to 1851. 
Austria's triumph over Prussia at Olmiitz (§ 227) was 
short-lived, for Schwarzenberg died in 1852, and his 
successors were not men of real ability. Moreover, 
Prussia was already the leading German state commer- 
cially and within ten years was to become such politically. 
The Crimean War, in which neither Austria nor Prussia 
took active part, had an important influence on Germany, 
i 23,000,000. ; i 



UNIFICATION OF GERMANY 



305 



In the first place Austria's attempt to look after her 
Balkan interests showed conclusively to the other Ger- 
man peoples that Austria was not distinctively a German 
state. Furthermore, Austria's failures to show herself a 
great power at this crisis caused her to lose prestige through- 
out Europe. In Germany she lost the moral influence 
which had come from her ability under Metternich and 
Schwarzenberg to direct the affairs of Europe. Conse- 
quently after 1856 the smaller German states came more 
and more to consider Prussia rather than Austria the 
greatest German power. 

When Frederick William IV was succeeded by his 
brother William, a new era dawned for Prussia and for 
Germany. William I was a soldier, not brilliant but 
plain, honest, and straightforward. As a boy he had 
witnessed the humiliation of his country at Jena 
(§ 150). As a young man he had fought for Prussia 
and Germany in the Wars of Liberation. He was 
determined that Prussia should not again be humili- 
ated as she had been at Olmiitz. Since he was a soldier, 
he naturally looked upon the army as the best means of 
restoring to Prussia her former influence, but in addition 
he reorganized the whole central government and put new 
men at the head of affairs. The greatest of these minis- 
ters was von Roon, minister of war, one of the group 
of soldiers who created the new Prussia. Von Roon 
was preeminently an organizer. With the consent of 
King William, he asked the Prussian parliament to call 
to the army 63,000 recruits each year, instead of 40, 000. 1 
He wanted also to keep his troops in active service for a 
longer time than under the older system. 



Loss of 
Austrian in- 
fluence in 
Germany on 
account of 
the Crimean 
War. 



Political 
and military 
reorganiza- 
tion under 
William I. 



1 As noted above (§ 164), the Prussian army after 1807 was made up of 
40,000 new recruits each year. These were supposed to serve only two 
years, and, in spite of the increase of the population of the country the 
number of recruits each year was still 40,000. 
X 



306 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Conflict 
between 
king and 
parliament. 



Bismarck's 
experience, 
character, 
and policy. 



i*$ 



243. The Policy of Blood and Iron. — The Prussian 
parliament voted the additional money needed for the 
army because the members thought it would be asked for 
only one year. When the request was repeated, the lower 
house declined to vote supplies as the king and von Roon 
requested. Believing that without a new army his plans 
for Prussia were doomed to failure, King William in 

despair wrote out his abdica- 
tion. At this crisis he was 
persuaded to appoint as his 
chancellor a man already 
known for his ability and 
decision of character, Prince 
Otto von Bismarck. 

The selection of Bismarck 
was a disappointment to the 
German liberals, for he was 
a pronounced conservative 
and reactionary. In 1848 he 
had shown little sympathy 
with the liberal cause and 
at no time had he favored 
constitutional government. 
Between the Revolutions of 1848 and his appointment 
as chancellor he had had extensive diplomatic experi- 
ences and had gained a clear knowledge of complicated 
German and European politics. For eight years he 
had served as Prussian delegate in the diet of the 
Confederation at Frankfort. Three years at the court 
of Louis Napoleon had given him practical knowledge 
of the character and methods of that imperial ad- 
venturer. A year at St. Petersburg (Petrograd) had 
made him familiar in a general way with the Russian 
statesmen and problems. Bismarck very promptly an- 
nounced his policy, and in no uncertain terms. He 




William I 



UNIFICATION OF GERMANY 307 

declared that " Prussia's boundaries, as determined by the 
Congress of Vienna [§ 171], are not conducive to her 
wholesome existence as a sovereign state. Not by 
speeches and resolutions of majorities the mighty 
problems of the age are solved — that was the mistake 
of 1848 and 1849 — but by iron and blood." Bismarck 
meant what he said ; these words formed no mere figure 
of speech, and in a very true sense a policy of " blood and 
iron " was inaugurated. 

Bismarck's first problem was to secure funds for the Bismarck 
new army. When the lower house of the Prussian par- °^e Rmi 
liament refused to vote these supplies, and the upper sian 
house did vote them, the chancellor immediatelv ruled f. ar ~ , 

' - liament. 

that the supplies had been voted and raised the money. 
For four years he and the Prussian parliament were at 
odds over this question, but in spite of criticism and 
antagonism, Bismarck found a way to carry through the 
policies which he had blocked out. 

The heart of Bismarck's policy was, of course, the Wars which 
creation of a new Germany under Prussian leadership. In marke . d 
the accomplishment of this we find three well defined creation of 
steps, each of which was marked by war. The first was the * New 
Danish War (1863) growing out of the Schleswig-Holstein 
controversy. The second was the Austro-Prussian War 
(1866), and the third the Franco-Prussian War (1870- 
1871) (§ 254), which was really a war between France and 
Germany, not simply a war of France with Prussia. 

244. The Schleswig-Holstein Question. — Schles'wig Relation of 
and Hol'stein were two duchies in the lower part of the Scl deswig 

. ^ and Hol- 

Danish peninsula which were under the rule of the Danish stein to 
king, but were not part of the kingdom of Denmark ; that is, Denmark - 
the union between Schleswig and Holstein on the one hand 
and Denmark on the other was a purely personal union. 1 

1 Nevertheless Holstein had been a member of the German Confedera- 
tion since 1815. By an agreement of the European powers at London in 



308 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Conquest 
of Schleswig 
and Hoi- ( 
stein by 
Prussia and 
Austria. ^ 



However, at this period, as we have noted several times, 
there was a movement on the part of most countries to 
nationalize their governments and people. Denmark was 
influenced by this spirit of the age and sought to consolidate 
Schleswig and to a degree Holstein with the Danish king- 
dom proper. As the independence of Schleswig and 
Holstein was guaranteed by the treaty of London (1852), 
which had been signed by Prussia and Austria, but not by 
the German Confederation, Prussia and Austria protested, 
and the troops of the Confederation entered Holstein. 1 

Bismarck wished the help of Austria in the war on 
Denmark, but he did not want the German Confederation 
to take any part in the struggle. He was able to arrange 
this plan, and the combined Prussian and Austrian armies 
occupied the lower part of Denmark. 2 He then persuaded 
the other European Powers that had signed the Declara- 
tion of London to agree that the duchies were not under 
the king of Denmark. Schleswig and Holstein were 
then turned over to Prussia and Austria. 

1852, Schleswig and Holstein were to be independent under the rule of the 
Danish king. On the death of the ruling Danish monarch, Frederick VII, 
without heir, Christian of Gliicksburg was to become king of Denmark. 

1 At this time the Danish king died and Christian IX became king of 
Denmark. Christian was forced by the Danish people to carry out the 
policy of his predecessor, that is, to unite the duchies with Denmark. 
The German Confederation protested because it believed that the Duke 
of Augustenburg was the rightful ruler of the duchies. Bismarck wanted 
to intervene in Schleswig and Holstein, but he did not want the Confedera- 
tion to take part in this movement. He was able to carry out his plan 
because he insisted that the Declaration of London should be accepted 
and that the duchies should not be incorporated in Denmark. He 
persuaded Austria, which had also signed the treaty of London, to cooper- 
ate with him, in spite of the protest of the other states in the Confedera- 
tion, which had wished the Duke of Augustenburg to be ruler of the 
duchies. 

2 At first the European Powers upheld the legality of Bismarck's action 
in invading Denmark, since he was upholding the Declaration of London 
of 1852. At a new conference of the Powers, called to consider this whole 
question, it was later decided that it would be wise to abrogate the 
Declaration of London. 



UNIFICATION OF GERMANY 



309 



Bismarck immediately insisted that, because the 
duchies were near Prussia, they should be brought into 
the Prussian Zollverein and should have their post- 
offices and other affairs administered by Prussia. He 
also declared his intention of occupying the harbor of 
Kiel and of constructing under Prussian auspices a ship 
canal from the Baltic to the North Sea. In brief, he was 
determined to use the duchies as an excuse to pick a 
quarrel with Austria by which he would be able to break 
up the old Confederation, drive Austria out of it, and 
form a new confederation without her. 

245. Bismarck Prepares for War with Austria (1865- 
1866). — In the year 1865 (by the treaty of Gas'tein) 
Prussia and Aus- 
tria agreed that 
the affairs of Hol- 
stein should be 
administered by 
Austria while those 
of Schleswig should 
be cared for by 
Prussia. The real 
object of this was 
to create friction 
with Austria. 

In the war which 
Bismarck intended 
to provoke with 
Austria, it was 
necessary that he 
should be assured 
of the neutrality 
of the French government and the neutrality or friend- 
ship of Italy. With Napoleon III he had a famous 
interview at Bi-ar-ritz'. Napoleon gave assurance 



Bismarck's 
policies in 
the duchies. 




Press Illustrating Service, Inc. 
Otto von Bismarck 



New plan of 
administer- 
ing the 
affairs of 
the duchies. 



Bismarck 
gains 
assurance 
that 

France and 
Italy will 
be neutral. 



310 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Mobiliza- 
tion and 
disarm- 
ament. 



Events in 
the German 
Diet and 
on the 
battle field.' 



that he would not take active part in a war, but in- 
timated that he expected territorial compensation if 
Prussia or Austria gained new lands. Napoleon really 
believed that if Prussia and Austria became involved in 
war the struggle for the control of Germany would be so 
prolonged that, even though not extended as the Thirty 
Years' War had been * two centuries earlier, he might 
like Richelieu 2 become the arbiter of German affairs 
and make notable gains for France. After great difficulty, 
in the spring of 1866, Bismarck succeeded in making an 
arrangement with Italy by which the Italians agreed to 
help him if, within three months, war broke out between 
Austria and Prussia. The Iron Chancellor now made 
it his first business to see that such a war did occur. 

The Schleswig-Holstein Question, of course, furnished 
the pretext. The Prussian governor of Schleswig was 
able to make repeated complaints that Austria's rule in 
Holstein was not what it should be. Both Austria and 
Prussia began to get their armies in readiness for trouble. 
Then it was proposed and agreed that both should dis- 
arm ; but the mobilization of Italian troops near the 
border of Venetia was thought by Austria to be sufficient 
excuse for reorganizing her army and stationing it near 
the Adriatic Sea. 

246. The Austro-Prussian War (1866). — Prussia im- 
mediately used this as a pretext and armed again. Austria 
then tried to bring the Schleswig question before the 
German diet. Prussia insisted that Austria was failing 
to keep her treaty agreements. All Germany, foreseeing a 
crisis, began to prepare for war. On June 11 the German 
diet, at the request of Austria, began to organize the 
Confederation army in order to punish Prussia. Prussia 
treated this action as a declaration of war ; she forthwith 
declared the Confederation dissolved and proposed a 



* E. E. c. 



704-707. 



2 E. E. C, § 703. 



-^"•••••fe- 




ndenburg Prussia in 16. 
Territory acquired 1648-1795 
Territory acquired 1795-1806 
All territory West of the Rhine, except Neuchatel 
rrendered by the Peace of Basel, 1795. 




wiuiaus it.;::. 



UNIFICATION OF GERMANY 311 

new organization for Germany. Within a few days her 
armies had overrun Hanover and other of the smaller 
German states which had made common cause with 
Austria against Prussia. Three Prussian armies now pre- 
pared a " drive " on the Austrians. By skillful cam- 
paigning they united, and at Sa'do-wa near Ko-nig-grdtz 
they met an equal number of Austrians, whom they 
defeated decisively. 

When von Moltke informed the king that " your Bismarck's 
Majesty has won not only the battle but the entire cam- f( ^esighted ■ 
paign," Bismarck is reported to have said : " Now we toward 
must endeavor to establish the old friendship with Austria. ' ' Austna - 
This remark showed that, although he wished to defeat 
Austria and drive her out of the Confederation and 
organize a new confederation without her, he wished to 
retain her friendship. After all, Austria was a German 
state, useful against Russian enemies on the east and 
French opponents on the west. 

In point of fact, Austria was merefy forced to give Territorial 
Venetia to the Italians and was not humiliated in any thewar ° 
real way. The Italians were deserving of this help 
because their army had kept a large Austrian force occu- 
pied and had thus enabled the Prussian generals to win 
at Sadowa. Although Prussia did not take any Austrian 
territory, she did absorb some of Saxony, and Holstein 
as well as Schleswig; In addition she annexed Hanover, 
the free city of Frankfort, and some of the smaller Ger- 
man states. 

247. The North German Confederation. — The year Formation 
after the Austro-Prussian War, popularly known as the ll^^™ 1 
Seven Weeks' War, because of its short duration, all north 
German states north of the river Main formed a new Germany - 
united Germany, called the North German Confedera- 
tion. This was not truly a confederation ; it was really 
a federal state. The hereditary president of the organi- 



312 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Organiza- 
tion of a 
commercial 
German 
empire 
(1868). 



Restriction 
of suffrage 
by the 
French 
Republic. 



zation was to be the king of Prussia. There was to be a 
federal council {Bundesrath) (Boon'dez-rat) made up of 
princes or delegates of princes from the different states 
and a lower house elected by universal suffrage. Provi- 
sion was made for the admission of the South German 
states of Bavaria, Wtirtemburg, Baden, and Hesse 
without amendment of the constitution of the Con- 
federation. 

Soon after, the Zollverein was reorganized and the 
members from the South German states were admitted to 
both the federal council and the lower house in order to 
look after commercial affairs of the Zollverein. Com- 
mercially, therefore, the German Empire was organized 
as early as 1868. 

The Second French Empire and German Unity 

248. Louis Napoleon Dictator of France. — The com- 
pletion of German unity, that is, the organization of the 

present German 
Empire (1871), was 
accomplished by 
Bismarck through 
a war with France. 
He was able to 
bring this about 
by shrewd and un- 
scrupulous negoti- 
ations with the 
French emperor, 
Louis Napoleon, 
who was ambitious 
and at the same 




Napoleon III 



time rather short-sighted. To understand the story it is 
advisable to consider first the history of France in the 
twenty years following the Revolutions of 1848. As we 



FRANCE AND GERMAN UNITY 313 

noticed above (§ 220), the Second French Republic was 
organized in December, 1848, with Louis Napoleon as 
President. One of the first acts of the new government 
showed that it did not trust the common people, for it 
abolished universal manhood suffrage and allowed only 
those to vote who had lived and paid taxes in their 
commune for three years. 

Louis Napoleon, being a good politician, opposed this How 
change and made himself more popular with the people g^e/new 
than before. In addition he tried to keep the support of supporters. 
the middle classes by encouraging industry and trade. 
By restoring the control of the schools to churchmen, 
and by supporting the Pope and the church in other ways, 
he was able to count on the support of the clericals. 

By 1851 the Second Republic, with the exception of Establish- 
President Louis Napoleon, was comparatively unpopular **! ent of a 
in France. The President therefore decided to make him- ship (1851) 
self dictator of the country. On December 2, 1851, the andan 

ci- i -t • a empire 

anniversary of his great uncle s military victory at Aus- (1852). 
terlitz (§ 149), Louis Napoleon, by a coup d'etat (stroke 
of state), established a dictatorship, and reestablished 
universal suffrage. On that morning all prominent 
republicans were arrested and temporarily imprisoned. 
Napoleon at once appealed to the people to support him 
in this arbitrary action, which he declared to be for the 
best interests of France. In a plebiscite the people voted 
by an overwhelming majority to support him and author- 
ized him to frame a new constitution. By this constitu- 
tion the government of the country was really vested in 
Louis Napoleon, but the people thought that they were 
having more power than before, because every man was 
allowed to vote. On December 2, 1852, the anniver- 
sary of the coup d'etat, Napoleon took a final step 
by declaring that the Second French Republic had 
been replaced by an empire; he assumed the title 



314 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Popularity 
and mar- 
riage of 
Napoleon. 



Encourage- 
ment of 
business 
and protec- 
tion of 
labor. 



Napoleon III. 1 This " Second Empire " lasted until 
1870. 

249. The Work of Louis Napoleon for France. — As 
emperor Louis Napoleon was at first more politic, more 
popular, and more successful than he had been as presi- 
dent. He was exceedingly affable and approachable at 
practically all times, but his experiences had shown him 

the wisdom of keeping his 
plans to himself. His popu- 
larity and his success were 
increased by his marriage to 
a brilliant and charming- 
Spanish princess, Eugenie, 
who made his court the 
most attractive in Europe. 
Being himself a good poli- 
tician and aided by so 
skillful an empress, Louis 
Napoleon proceeded to add 
to his popularity in France 
by working for the pros- 
perity of the country. In 
the largest seaports fine 
docks were constructed. 
The building of railways, which had been neither long 
nor numerous when he became emperor, was encouraged, 
as was the further introduction of the telegraph. New 
roads were opened, some rivers were made more easily 
navigable, and canals were constructed in various parts 
of France. In order to encourage the investment of 
capital in agriculture, industry, and these other enter- 
prises, Napoleon permitted new banking organizations to 
be formed which loaned money to those who wished to 

1 The honorary title Napoleon II had been granted to the infant 
son of Napoleon I and Maria Louisa. 




Empress Eugenie 



FRANCE AND GERMAN UNITY 315 

start businesses, or to landed proprietors who wished to 
introduce new crops or improvements. In order that 
the workmen might not feel that more was being done 
for capital than for labor, laws were passed to benefit 
disabled or needy workers. 

Under the able guidance of Baron Haussmann, Paris Boulevard 
was replanned and to a certain extent rebuilt; on the ^p^ 3 
site of the old walls a ring of boulevards was constructed, 
wide and beautifully paved. In order that these fine 
streets might be properly shaded, large trees were trans- 
planted bodily from the neighboring forests. Along these 
boulevards buildings were required by law to be of fairly 
uniform height and character. To Haussmann, Paris 
owes much of the charm of its boulevard system to-day. 

250. Napoleon III as the Arbiter of European Affairs. Ambition 
— Napoleon was not satisfied to be the first man in ° ^ a P° leon 
France, he wanted to be considered, as his uncle had been, arbiter of 
the greatest ruler of Europe. In spite of his repeated E ^ r pP ean 
declaration that " the empire means peace," his ambition 

to be the arbiter of European affairs led to numerous 
wars. Since he wished to be the deus ex machina, the 
directing deity who solved the international problems of 
Europe, and since he believed thoroughly in the doctrines 
of '48 that every race had a right to organize itself as a 
nation, Louis Napoleon easily became a meddler. If, in 
the end, his plans failed to succeed, other statesmen, 
possibly more unscrupulous than himself, made him the 
scapegoat. At first, however, he was quite successful. 
As the self-appointed defender of the holy places in 
Jerusalem, together with England, he made war upon 
Russia in a Crimean war (1854-1856) (§ 000). 

251. Failures of Louis Napoleon. — The failures of Misunder- 
Louis Napoleon seem to begin with his failure to free the st - a t ? d t 1 {J g 
Italians (§ 238). He went far enough to offend Austria Italians. 
and the Pope ; but his unwillingness to go as far as he 



316 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Failure 
of French 
plans in 
Mexico. 



Relations 
with Bis- 
marck. 



had promised lost him the cordial friendship of the 
Italian race, whom he really had aided. 

His first conspicuous failure, however, was not in Italy, 
but in America. Here the ambition to establish a colonial 
empire led him astray. In 1859 the Mexican government 
had refused to pay the debts which it owed abroad ; 
consequently several European countries united to com- 
pel payment. After the debts had been settled, troops 
which had been sent to Mexico were kept there by Napo- 
leon. In order to gain the friendship of Austria, he per- 
suaded the younger brother of Francis Joseph II, the 
Archduke Max-i-mil'i-an, to accept the throne as em- 
peror of Mexico. Since the United States was engaged 
in the Civil War, it could do no more at the time than 
protest against this violation of the Monroe Doctrine. 
When the war closed, however, France was told to with- 
draw from Mexico the French troops that kept Maxi- 
milian on the Mexican throne. This was done without 
great delay, and Maximilian, left without military sup- 
port, was overpowered by the great Mexican patriot 
Benito Juarez (Hu-a/rez) and put to death. This failure 
in Mexico was a great blow to the pride and prestige of the 
" Second Empire." 

Not in southern Europe nor in xAmerica, however, was 
Napoleon's humiliation to be completed. His down- 
fall was due directly to his relations with the Prussian 
empire builder, Bismarck. The story of how he was out- 
witted in negotiations by the Iron Chancellor and how 
his armies were defeated by the efficient military machine 
of Roon and Moltke, is the story of Germany rather than 
of France. 1 Napoleon desired to obtain for France more 

1 An adventurer and a politician who was visionary and ambitious, 
the third Napoleon was treated with more or less contempt by his 
contemporaries and was popularly dubbed "Napoleon the Little" in 
contrast with his great uncle. Nevertheless Napoleon was a man of big 
ideas and a ruler of no little ability. He understood his times quite 



FRANCE AND GERMAN UNITY 317 

territory in the Rhine valley. He was also anxious to be 
consulted by the German statesmen about the numerous 
and important changes that were occurring in the Ger- 
man Confederation (§§ 243-247). 

252. Napoleon's Attempts to get Territorial Compen- Attempts 
sation on the Rhine. — In the interview , with Bismarck ^£ e t ^ d 
at Biarritz (§ 245), Napoleon had intimated that he ex- Austro- 
pected territorial compensations as the price of his neu- ^^ aa 
trality in a war between Prussia and Austria. He had 
tried also to secure from Austria promises that he should 
have certain territories in case of war. Later, after the 
battle of Sadowa (§ 246), when he was selected as mediator 
between the warring nations, he tried to dictate what new 
territory Prussia should have, what Austria should give 
up and receive, and what should be given to France as 
her share. 

Although Napoleon had failed to get any Rhine terri- Napoleon's 



tory as a result of the struggle between Austria and ^ esi yf lor 

J m , 00 territory as 

Prussia, he was not satisfied to accept his failure as final, "revenge 
He proposed to Bismarck that France should annex the g° r , „ 
duchy of Luxemburg, paying for it a sum to the king of 
Holland, by whom the duchy was ruled. This fell through. 
He also asked that Belgium be granted to him, and Bis- 
marck led the French emperor on without committing 
himself, in order that later he might expose to Europe 
Napoleon's ambition and double-dealing. The facts were 
made public at the beginning of the Franco-Prussian War, 
and aroused public sentiment against Napoleon in many 
countries. Meanwhile the ambition and cupidity of 
the French emperor were used by the wily Bismarck as 
means for securing the aid of the South German states, 
who feared Napoleon's scheme for territorial expansion in 
the Rhine valley. 

well and the impression which he made upon them was equaled by com- 
paratively few of the statesmen of his day. 



318 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



How Na- 
poleon III 
was out- 
witted by 
Bismarck. 



The Ho- 
henzollern 
candidacy 
and the 
Ems dis- 
patch. 



Disparity 
in prepared- 
ness of the 
opponents. 



253. Napoleon vs. Bismarck. — Napoleon had been 
completely outwitted by Bismarck, first, by allowing a 
powerful new state to be organized with territories on 
both banks of the Rhine river, which France looked 
upon as her natural eastern boundary ; and secondly, by 
giving Bismarck proof of his greed for territory on the 
east, without getting any territory. 

Bismarck finally so outplayed France in the game of 
diplomacy that in 1870 France declared war against 
Prussia, which was exactly what Bismarck wanted. In 
1868 the republicans of Spain had driven their king from 
his throne. In 1869 the throne was offered to Leopold, 
a prince of the house of Hohenzollern, though of a dif- 
ferent branch from that to which the king of Prussia 
belonged. France naturally objected, because she did 
not wish even distant relatives to reign in countries on 
either side of her. Leopold agreed not to be a candidate 
for the Spanish throne, and France should have been 
content. Instead, Napoleon allowed his foreign secre- 
tary to send to King William a demand that Leopold's 
candidacy should never be renewed. William refused to 
give such a promise. Bismarck, seeing his opportunity, 
sent a telegram condensing the reply of the Prussian 
king. This famous Ems dispatch gave the French the 
erroneous impression that their ambassador had been in- 
sulted by the king. France immediately declared war 
against Prussia. Napoleon alone of those high in author- 
ity realized that the French army was in no condition to 
meet the trained Prussian troops, as all his attempts to 
prepare his army better had come to naught. 

254. The Franco-German War (1870-1871). — Confi- 
dent, without allies, France made war on the first military 
power of Europe, carefully prepared for this war which she 
had deliberately provoked. It is said that the Prussian war 
office had a map of every road in France. Beside her great 



FRANCE AND GERMAN UNITY 



319 



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1 


1 V- - 


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of 1870. 



army, equipped with modern guns, highly organized, 
commanded by von Moltke, the greatest strategist since 
Napoleon's time, Prussia had the support of the North 
German Confederation and the states of South Germany. 

The French plan of invading Germany was abandoned French dis- 
at the beginning of the war. In four great divisions the ^fallf^ 
German veterans 
crossed the Rhine 
and invaded 

France. The prin- 
cipal French army 
was besieged in the 
fortified city of 
Metz, where it could 
be of no possible 
service. Napoleon 
tried to stop the in- 
vaders; at Se-ian f 
his army was sur- 
rounded and cap- 
tured, and the em- 
peror himself was 
taken. 1 Paris was 
now besieged, Metz 
was captured with 
a French army of 
180,000 officers and 
men, and the new army 2 that was hastening to the relief 

1 A republic was proclaimed at Paris (§ 000), Sept. 4, on receipt of 
the news from Sedan, since the capture of the French emperor left the 
government without a head. 

2 Leon Gambetta escaped from Paris in a balloon. By his enthusiasm 
and eloquence, he inspired the French to organize citizen armies which 
included twice as many troops as had confronted the Germans at Metz 
and Sedan. They were however poorly equipped and led by inexperi- 
enced generals. The chief of these citizen forces was the Army of the 
Loire. 



Moltke 



320 



MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 



Siege of 
Paris and 
Treaty of 
Frankfort. 



of Paris was defeated. Notwithstanding these reverses, 
the republic which had been proclaimed for France 
rejected the harsh terms of peace offered by Bismarck. 
After a siege of several months, the Germans began to 
bombard Paris. Food was so scarce that rats sold for 
forty cents each. Wood was exhausted, although many 
trees were cut down, and most of the fires in the city 




Proclamation of William I as German - Emperor, Versailles, 1871 






during the bitter cold of January, 1871, were started by 
the bursting of the German shells. Meanwhile the Ger- 
man princes had agreed to create a larger political organi- 
zation to be known as the German Empire. On January 
18, 1871, William of Prussia was proclaimed German 
emperor in the palace of Louis XIV at Versailles. After 
Paris surrendered, in the Treaty of Frankfort (1871), France 






FRANCE AND GERMAN UNITY 



321 



accepted the harsh and humiliating terms demanded by 
Bismarck. An indemnity of one thousand million 
dollars was to be paid and Alsace with part of Lorraine 
was to be ceded to the newly organized German Empire, 1 
which in this way excluded France entirely from the valley 
of the Rhine. German troops were to remain in France 





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Bismarck Axxottncixg Terms of Peace, 1871 

until the indemnity was paid, a humiliation which aroused 
French patriots and led to the rapid cancellation of the 
heavy debt. France never forgave Germany for the 
seizure of Alsace-Lorraine (§ 000). 

255. Summary. — The two Napoleons greatly aided Unification 
Italy in arousing the national sentiment of the country of Italy " 
and wresting northern Italy from Austrian rule, but uni- 

1 Bismarck desired the cession of these provinces because, as he as- 
serted, there had been, in the preceding centuries, more than a hundred 
invasions of Germany through the gap in the hills near Metz. Lorraine 
has also very valuable deposits of iron. 
Y 



322 MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 

fication was the work chiefly of the Italians themselves, 
especially of Mazzini, of the society of Young Italy, and 
of Victor Emmanuel, who clung to Sardinia's constitution 
and to his idea of Italian unity. By his diplomacy Cavour 
gained the friendship of England and France and made 
other Italian states willing to unite with Sardinia. The 
war with Austria added Lombardy directly and all north- 
central Italy indirectly. Garibaldi and his forces occupied 
Sicily and Naples, which next voted to join Sardinia. In 
1866 Venetia was added, and in 1871 Rome. All Italy 
was then united under the house of Savoy, which rules 
it at present. 
Unification German unification had been the dream of thinkers 
— firtt many an< ^ statesmen for more than two generations. It occurred 
phases. under the leadership of Prussia, which was an autocratically 

governed state, the largest of North Germany. She first 
brought all northern and central Germany together in a 
commercial union, the Zollverein. She then schemed to 
replace Austria as the first German state. To do this, 
under the new king William I, she organized a fine army 
(Prussian traditions favored militarism) against the 
wishes of the Prussian parliament. Bismarck, the Iron 
Chancellor, then proceeded to provoke three wars by 
means of which German}^ (without Austria) was united. 
The first of these was the Danish war, which took from 
Denmark the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. Prussia 
controlled one, Austria the other. Quarrels over the 
proper administration of affairs in the duchies gave excuse 
for the Austro-Prussian war (1866), which really lasted but 
three weeks, when the Austrians were defeated at Sadowa. 
Second Louis Napoleon, president of the Second French Repub- 

French \[ C} ma( } e himself popular and in 1851 by a coup d'etat 

Louis established himself as dictator. In 1852 he was declared 

Napoleon. emperor with the title of Napoleon III. He aided busi- 
ness at home ; abroad he favored the idea that each race 



NATIONAL UNITY 323 

should form a nation, and tried to make himself arbiter 
of international affairs. In the last years of his reign 
his government was quite autocratic in France and his 
international policies did not prosper in Italy, in Mexico, 
and in Germany ; he was outwitted by Bismarck in all 
his dealings with that crafty statesman. 

Napoleon, greedy for more land along the Rhine, Unification 
and French politicians, determined that no prince /Jg^ many 
with the title Hohenzollern should sit on the Spanish 1891.) 
throne, gave Germany excuse to invade and crush the 
Second Empire, boastful but really unprepared. Sedan, 
Metz, and Paris followed in rapid succession. Citizen 
armies failed to defeat German veterans, of course. 
France, prostrate, was forced to pay five billion francs 
as indemnity and to yield Alsace with part of Lorraine ; 
and the Alsace-Lorraine question has kept Europe in 
ferment for more than a generation. At Versailles in 
January, 1871, the South German states joined the North 
German Confederation and formed the German Empire. 

General References 

Hazen, Modern European]History, 325-362. 

Hayes, Political and Social History of Modern Europe, II, 150- 
210. 

Seignobos, Political History of Europe since 1814, 170-184, 
344-363, 448-484. 

Phillips, Modern Europe (Periods, VIII), 293-489. 

Andrews, Historical Development of Modern Europe, II, 1-277. 

Fyffe, History of Modern Europe, 824r-1019. 

Cambridge Modem History, XI, 286-308, 366-506, 529-549, 
576-612. 

Murdock, Reconstruction of Europe. 

Topics 

Cavour : Encyclopaedia Britannica, art. "Cavour"; Latimer, 
Italy in the Nineteenth Century, 183-188, 199-200, 212-214. 238- 
245 ; Orsi, Cavour. 



324 MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 

The Zollverein : Seignobos, Political History of Europe since 
1814, 451-454; Gibbins, The Nineteenth Century — Economic 
and Industrial Progress, 212-217 ; Ogg, Economic Development of 
Modern Europe, 297-301. 

The Austro-Prussian War : Henderson, A Short History of 
Germany, II, 398-410; Baring Gould, Germany, 388-394; 
Hawksworth, The Last Century in Europe, 308-328 ; Murdock, 
Reconstruction of Europe, 211-275. 

Studies 

1. Conditions in Austrianized Italy. Thayer, Life and 
Times of Cavour, T, Chapter VII. 

2. Activity of the Reds in Italy after 1848. Thayer, Life 
and Times of Cavour, I, Chapter X. 

3. The Powers at Paris, 1856. Thayer, Life and Times of 
Cavour, I, Chapter XIV. 

4. How Cavour prepared for war with Austria. Andrews, 
Historical Development of Modern Europe, II, 111-120. 

5. The work of Garibaldi. Murdock, Reconstruction of 
Europe, 163-177. 

6. The policy of blood and iron. Henderson, A Short History 
of Germany, II, 379-398. 

7. The Schleswig-Holstein question. Seignobos, Political 
History of Europe since 181 4, 466-469. 

8. Sadowa. Murdock, Reconstruction of Europe, 237-246. 

9. Napoleon III. Thayer, Throne Makers, 44-78. 

10. Coup d'etat of Dec. 2, 1851, in Scribner's Magazine, 38 
(1905), 417-423. 

11. Napoleon's loss of prestige after 1860. Hayes, Political 
and Social History of Modern Europe, II, 175-180. 

12. The Ems Dispatch. Schevill, The Making of Modern 
Germany, 235-242. 

13. Sedan. Murdock, Reconstruction of Europe, 329-341. 

14. Paris in war time. Murdock, Reconstruction of Europe, 
350-367. 

Questions 

1. What was the importance of Victor Emmanuel's deter- 
mination to keep a constitution? In what ways did Cavour 
aid the king of Sardinia in planning for a united Italy? (Con- 
sider work in Sardinia, relations with France, and participation 
in the European council in Paris, 1856.) 



NATIONAL UNITY 325 

2. What was the attitude of Austria toward Italy from 1815 
to 1860? Why did Napoleon III at first help the Italians 
against Austria and then withdraw his aid? Account for the 
fact that all northern Italy desired annexation to Sardinia. 
Explain the causes of the annexation later of (a) the kingdom 
of the two Sicilies, (6) of Venetia, (c) of Rome and the surround- 
ing territory. How do you account for the remarkable achieve- 
ments by which the whole peninsula of Italy was united into a 
single kingdom within a period of twelve years ? 

3. Explain the political condition of Germany before 1800 
(§ 160). To what extent was the German Confederation after 
1815 more successful in uniting the German people than the 
old Holy Roman Empire had been? For what reasons did 
northern Germany organize a Zollverein, and what was its 
significance ? 

4. Explain the position before 1815 of Prussia as a German 
power. Show how the events of the ten years following the 
humiliation of Olmutz favored Prussian rather than Austrian 
leadership in Germany. What was the work done by William I 
and Roon for Prussian headship ? 

5. Who was Bismarck ? Explain carefully what is meant by 
his policy of "Blood and Iron." Describe his quarrel with the 
Prussian lower house over money for the army. What were the 
three steps by which Bismarck developed a united Germany? 

6. Explain the Schleswig-Holstein question and describe 
the Danish War. Show how Bismarck used the Danish duchies 
as an excuse to pick a quarrel with Austria. Describe the Seven 
Weeks' War, and explain the nature of the North German Confed- 
eration organized in 1867. 

7. Who was Louis Napoleon ? What qualities did he possess 
which made him a rather successful ruler of France and for 
ten years the arbiter of general European affairs? How did 
Louis Napoleon become first president of France, then dictator, 
then Emperor Napoleon III ? What work did he do for France? 
Why was he at first successful and later a failure in his attempt 
to manage European affairs ? 

8. Describe the different negotiations between Napoleon 
and Bismarck over territorial "compensation" of France along 
the Rhine. How was the ambition of Napoleon for additional 
territory used against him by Bismarck in 1870? Describe 
the negotiations between Bismarck and Napoleon over the 
Hohenzollern candidac} T for the Spanish throne. Show the 



326 MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 

part played by the famous Ems dispatch in bringing on war 
between France a.nd Prussia. 

9. Describe the German invasion of France in 1870. Show 
how the French lost their two main armies. Describe the 
siege of Paris and French attempts to raise new armies. Name 
the provisions of the Treaty of Frankfort and show why Bis- 
marck demanded Alsace-Lorraine. Why has the cession of 
Alsace-Lorraine remained a cause of dissension to the present 
day? 



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